Tibrogargan
by Peter Smith
Summary: Third story in the "Junior Rangers" series. When Rita unleashes an ancient Aboriginal spirit intent on destroying the city, the Rangers alone may simply not be enough to stop him.
1. Prologue

Author's notes – This is the third in my "Junior Rangers" series, so I'd recommend at least a quick glance through the first two stories, otherwise you're gonna be pretty confused pretty quickly :). In short, this series takes place in Australia. Everybody's heard of the Crocodile Hunter aka Steve Irwin, right? His zoo (on Australia's eastern coast) is located in the same city as where these stories are taking place. That should save everybody from running for the atlas :). I actually know the guy, scarily enough.

Thanks to the readers who gratefully left feedback for my first two stories, and again, an impassioned plea, please R&R. Just finally, in MMPR Zac was African-American, but that didn't make sense when I placed my series in Australia. So, for here I've changed his background to Australian Aborigine. With that out of the way, please read on…

**Prologue**

The elders say that although he now lies dreaming, Tibrogargan was once awake. It was the Dreamtime then, the time before time when Australia's mountains and valleys were carved out by the Rainbow Serpent as he travelled across the land, a time when the country was peopled by the great animal-tribes, and a time when songs were painted and paintings were sung. Once the Dreamtime ended, Tibrogargan and his family lay down to sleep, dreaming of nothing but the land and the stars for thousands of years. In that time history became legend and was forgotten, as an entire culture was swept away to make room for the new.

And the most important part of Tibrogargan's story was lost - anything that dreams will one day wake up.

* * *

Through the infinite depths of his dream, Tibrogargan heard it - a child crying, somewhere nearby. He couldn't imagine how such a tiny sound had managed to shake him from his slumber, but as the haze of his ancient sleep faded away, the sound steadily became clearer. Opening his eyes and looking out across the landscape, his gaze soon fell on a young girl, standing in a clearing on the eastern side of the mountain. She was cloaked in shadow from the setting sun, and he could barely make her out.

Taking form, Tibrogargan approached the sobbing girl and called out to her.

"Child," he began, his voice like faraway thunder, "why do you cry so? Have you lost your tribe?"

The girl turned to him, her eyes twin points of white in the shadow. "Yes," she said softly, wiping her hand across her eyes. "I have been... away for a time, yet when I returned I could not find them." She stopped and looked east, and her voice took on a strange tone. "I am afraid for them. They are not where they should be."

Tibrogargan smiled. "Perhaps I shall help you find them," he replied. "I, too, have been away, and have missed this great land," and he turned to follow her gaze towards the distant sea. But as he looked, his expression fell, and he took a step back in disbelief. For a few minutes, all words failed him. "But... this cannot... where are they?" he stuttered. "My people were so strong... Where have they all gone? _Where are they?_"

The girl stepped over beside him. "You see?"

Tibrogargan nodded. "But... I do not understand... how...?"

"The white tribe," hissed the girl suddenly. "It is their doing. While you and your family slept, they came in great numbers, conquered this land and forced your... _our_ people to flee. Look at them. They are like a plague, like flies."

Regardless of the darkening sky, he could see them easily, everywhere he looked, packed tightly across the land. "Yes," he replied, his voice growing harder, rockier. "I see them."

The girl continued, as if Tibrogargan hadn't spoken. "There is no tribe more dangerous or ruthless. They poison the waters and raze the land until they cannot even feed their own kind. They pump toxins into the air and laugh as the birds choke and fall. They have no respect for the land or the animals living there." She turned to Tibrogargan and spoke again, in a voice low and dangerous. "They must be punished."

He nodded slowly, feeling the fire roaring to life through his veins. She was right. Looking beyond even the horizon, he had no words for what he saw. He could feel men digging foundations deep in the earth beneath him, could smell forests burning, and could hear the feint hum of machines somewhere up with the stars. _How had this happened? _"I should have been here to protect our people, but I failed them, and now they are gone." Tibrogargan shook his head. "That ends _now_."

A tiny smile flickered across the girl's face. "You must take vengeance for our people, and all the crimes against them."

Tibrogargan stepped forward, his eyes flashing angrily. "If I had known what great evil the white tribe was capable of, I would have wiped them from this land long ago," he growled. "They should not be here. I will sleep no longer, not until they are made to pay for their crimes."

The girl nodded. "I have watched them, Tibrogargan. The white tribe possess a powerful army."

"An army?"

"Yes. Eleven fierce warriors, all wearing bright colours and with enormous machines of conquest. They are dangerous, and will not fall lightly."

Tibrogargan waved his hand. "If they defend murderers I will crush them." He stopped, and looked down to the girl. "Fear not, our people will be avenged. Thank you, child. Without your intervention, I would surely still be dreaming, when there is so much that must be done." With a fury of the ages still building behind his eyes, Tibrogargan turned and walked away.

The girl stood watching him leave, and once sure he was gone, stepped backwards, passing through deep shadow and emerging in the starlight as a different person. She was older and taller, her hair and skin paler, and she now wore a long dress and carried a staff. Seconds later, a small tree beside her also seemed to shimmer in the dying light, the shadow twisting and changing into a tall figure clad in golden armour.

"Empress," said Goldar softly, "that was amazing. He did not see through your disguise for a second."

Rita Repulsa nodded. "I don't think the old fool even wanted to."

"But given the forces at his command..."

"It was a great risk, no mistake," said the witch. "But it has paid off immeasurably," and looking back to the east, her dark eyes soon found Caloundra, a glowing city of light outlined against the dark sea. Rita turned back to Goldar, and only he could see the black depths of her eyes. "He'll wipe the entire city off the face of the Earth for us, Goldar, and we won't even have to lift a finger."


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

"Hey guys," called Kimberly, as she and Trini crossed the bustling hallway to where Jason and Billy stood at their lockers, unloading their textbooks ready for the day's classes.

The two guys turned and waved as Kim and Trini approached. "Morning," said Jason. "Ready for another fun day of education?"

Trini smiled. "Well naturally."

Beside her, Kim stopped in front of her locker and focussed on a single dent on the locker door slightly to the left of the lock. "Magic spot," she nodded, and tapped the dent - something inside went 'clunk', and the door obediently swung open.

The Pink Ranger shoved her backpack into the locker and went straight for a pink hairbrush. Standing beside her, Billy turned to Kim and smiled - while his locker was filled to bursting with cables, electronic circuitry and blinking lights, Kim's hinted at pink and smelled of roses.

"A fraction flustered this morning Kimberly?" he asked.

Kim nodded. "I was totally having the best hair day," she said, "until the second I stepped outside and got hit by like a hurricane. The weather we've been having lately is crazy."

Jason shut his locker with a clang and considered the books in his arms. "So what's first up?"

"Double history with Mr Rumsfield," replied Trini. "We're getting our assignment topics today, so that should be good."

Jason shook his head. "You've got to teach me how to be enthusiastic about this stuff," he said. "I mean seriously, I can't manage it, not at eight thirty in the morning."

"I heard that," came a voice, and everyone looked up as Zac and Tommy approached. "Double history first up" continued Zac, stopping beside his locker, "it's enough to make even trigonometry sound good."

"How come?" asked Kimberly.

Jason nodded. "Yeah man. So Rumsfield drones on a bit sometimes, but I mean, what's so bad about history?"

Zac looked up from his locker, an unreadable expression on his face. "What subject are we looking at, right now?"

Jason replied so quickly even Rumsfield would've been impressed. "Early European settlement of Australia," he said.

"And?"

"Uh... the settlers' first encounters with..." The Red Ranger realised what he was about to say, and his face fell. "...the local Aborigines." He looked away. "Oh."

The teens glanced around to each other, as Zac turned back to freeing his history book. The Black Ranger had never really talked about his family's history, in fact it hadn't been a topic of any conversation they'd ever had. Everyone felt the confines of decidedly unfamiliar territory closing in. Around them, the hallway was steadily emptying as everybody jogged off to class, and the sudden silence was deafening.

"But," began Billy, "why should such a topic...?"

"It's just weird," said Zac. "Sitting in class listening to everyone talk about it. It's like Rumsfield expects me to get up and launch into a speech about how the school was built on my tribal grounds or something. And I can just feel everyone looking at me, you know?"

Tommy offered a half-smile. "Like being the ex-evil Ranger who tried to kill everybody and destroy the city?"

"I'm serious," Zac replied, and looked back to the group. "I was never taken from my parents, my family grew up in Brisbane and my dad makes a good living." He paused, sighing. "I just wish I could get up and leave my skin behind sometimes, that's all. You guys wouldn't understand."

Silence fell. Kimberly bit her bottom lip and glanced to Jason, but the Red Ranger shrugged helplessly. For the first time ever, nobody could think of anything to say.

Just then, the Rangers' communicators all beeped, and nobody could recall an occasion when they were less happy to hear that familiar six-note chime. Jason glanced around but the hallway had by now emptied, and the Rangers formed a circle around him as he raised his communicator and spoke.

"Zordon, Jason here. We read you."

"Rangers," came Zordon's voice. "I don't wish to alarm you, but there's something you should know."

"What's happening?" asked Tommy.

"To be honest, nothing," Zordon replied. "Yet. The computers here detected an unusual energy signature across the city that wasn't there yesterday. A very minor shift in the Grid, but that made it all the more noticeable. There's just something in the air, some unusual force we can't identify. And until we do, if you could just keep your eyes open Rangers, and be careful."

"Thanks for the heads-up Zordon," said Jason. "We'll let you know if we see anything," and the communicator fell silent.

Billy glanced around the group. "Well that was ominous."

"Should we call the Junior Team?" asked Trini.

Tommy shook his head. "Nah, we shouldn't worry them," he said. "We can call them later if we need them."

"We don't even know what we're looking for," said Kim.

"Well, we probably shouldn't worry about it right now though," said Trini.

"Why not?" asked Jason.

The Yellow Ranger glanced to her communicator. "Because we're at least five minutes late for class."

As everyone dashed off towards the history room, Zac finished pulling his books free. "Great. Something's on its way to eat the city," he said, slamming his locker shut. "What else is new?" And books in hand, he hurried off after the other Rangers.

* * *

"... and in other news, the steadily increasing number of sharks sighted in coast waters has seen beach after beach along the Sunshine Coast closed until further notice. Anyone caught swimming at a closed beach will face heavy penalties from local councils..."

The newsreader's voice faded as the car came to a stop in the school parking lot, and Brendan Watts glanced across to his mother in the driver's seat. "Well, we certainly picked a great time to move to Caloundra."

Beth Watts smiled and reached for her handbag. "Find me anywhere in the state where the housing rates are so low."

Brendan nodded. "Mostly because there's usually something about to step on them," he replied, before glancing up to where Currimundi State School stood facing them. "I guess this is it," he continued softly.

"Hey, at least the school's still here," Beth said, and looked into the rear-view mirror to where Brendan's younger sister sat in the backseat staring glumly out the window. "You've got all your books Rebecca?"

Her daughter nodded, and reached for her backpack beside her. "Everything right here Mum."

Beth nodded, and looked back to Brendan. "Are you going to be okay?" she asked. "I have to take Beck down to the fourth grade classroom, but I can come back if you want."

"No," Brendan replied, "that's okay. This Mr Di... uh..."

"Certo."

"Yeah, he sounds pretty cool. And besides, it's only a room full of complete strangers, I mean, that should be a piece of cake right?"

"Hey," Beth replied, "look at me," and Brendan turned to her, his eyes betraying his cheerful words. "You never know. There might be somebody in there just waiting for a friend. Be yourself."

Brendan looked away. "But what if they don't like that version?"

Beth shrugged. "I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't," she said. "Besides, I've got a lot more to worry about than you. Teaching music isn't exactly up there with maths and English." She paused. "But c'mon, new job and new school. I can do this if you can, but I'm pretty sure I can't do it without you."

Brendan nodded, before looking back to her and grinning. "Well then, let's go kick some butt."

* * *

It was only ten o'clock in the morning, and I was already down one ruler, two pencils and an entire workbook. Looking around the noisy classroom, I glanced down to the corner where Joel and Joshua sat laughing to themselves about something. Looking back to me briefly, Joshua waved cheerily and turned back, and the two continued sniggering. I shook my head, more angry at myself than them, and reached into the tray under the desk for my emergency supplies.

I should've known better than to leave all my stuff on top of the desk when I stepped away for a minute to talk to Mr Di Certo. There are plenty of people at the school who I can trust, but I don't share this classroom with a single one.

I rested my head in my hands and glanced out the windows at the side of the room. I'd heard that a new sixth grade student would be starting today, most likely in Mr Di Certo's class. I just hope they knew what they were in for.

And that's when I first caught sight of him, a boy making his way past the classroom. Stopping outside the door, he knocked lightly, and everyone looked up from their desks as Mr Di Certo quickly crossed the room.

"Excellent," he said, "Everybody, our new class member is here." And reaching the door, he pulled it open.

Framed in the doorway, the new student took a hesitant few steps into the classroom. Dressed in the typical Currimundi uniform, a green shirt with grey shorts, he was shorter than average, with a mess of dark curly hair, dancing brown eyes and a mouth that seemed to naturally curve into a warm grin. But glancing hopefully around the room, his smile fell and he lowered his gaze. Even from across the room I could see the conflict taking place behind those eyes - he wanted to be the grinning enthusiastic new student, but looked to be settling for the quiet and reserved new student.

"Brendan Watts," said Mr Di Certo, ushering him into the room, "welcome to 6D." Scanning for a spare desk, Mr Di Certo spotted the vacant seats on either side of me, and nodded. "You'll have to take the spare desk next to Peter there." Almost immediately, a low murmur rose from the guys in the front row, but Brendan didn't seem to hear them as he made his way towards me. "Peter, why don't you show Brendan around at morning tea?"

"Sure thing Mr Di Certo," I replied, as Brendan slid into the seat beside me. "Hey," I said.

He smiled and extended his hand. "Hi, uh, Brendan Watts."

I nodded, and shook his head. "Yeah, I heard before," I said. "Peter Smith."

"Good to meet you," he said, then began loading his books into the tray beneath his desktop. "So, what's everyone in the middle of?"

"Oh," I said, and moved my English textbook over between our desks. "Just reading this passage and answering these questions here. Skip ten and eleven, they're about something we haven't looked at yet, and seven's damn near impossible."

"Cool," he nodded. "Thanks. Hey, can I ask, what was up with those guys in the front row before?"

"Oh, well, you should probably know I don't have too many fans in here."

"Really?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. "I wouldn't have picked it."

I smiled. "Brendan Watts, I like you already," I said, and he beamed that shining grin again. I was beginning to like seeing that smile. "So where are you from?"

"One of the smaller schools in the middle of Brisbane," Brendan replied. "It was okay, I guess, but all concrete and traffic. You guys are sitting like right on the beach here."

"Improvement?"

He smiled. "You could say that."

I nodded. "Forgive me for asking, but your mother is the school's new music teacher, right?" He nodded, and I continued. "Is it weird, you know, your mother teaching you?"

Brendan shrugged. "Not really. I mean, my mother's always been there at the schools I've been to, so I just got used to it."

"Coolness. And hey, at least you'd always get good grades in music?"

Brendan shook his head sadly. "Not a chance."

The next half hour passed pretty quickly, and pretty soon the bell rang. We all put our books away and filed outside.

"So," I said, "how about the ten cent tour? It's Wednesday, so half price."

"Not such a great idea Pete," growled a voice, and we both turned to Joel and Joshua standing behind us. Joshua immediately stepped forward, grabbed Brendan's shoulder, and dragged him over towards them. "I'm sure the poor guy's sick of you by now. We can show Brendan around."

Brendan glanced from me to Joel. "Well, actually, I'm..." but he caught me shaking my head and fell silent. I liked Brendan too much to let him become an outcast on his very first day, and avoiding the situation would've been better for everyone.

"Go ahead," I said, raising my hands in defeat.

Joel grinned victoriously - and believe me, I would've given _anything_ to wipe that smirk off his face - and steered Brendan away. Brendan looked back to me quickly, but I shrugged helplessly. He nodded, and the three continued to walk away.

"It helps if you learn to identify your losers by sight," Joshua said, "that way you won't run the risk of actually hanging out with any of them."

I shook my head, watching them go, before grabbing some food from my backpack. Heading out into the courtyard between the sixth and seventh grade classrooms, I sat down in the sun to enjoy my morning tea and wait for the three of them to return. Sure enough, in a few minutes they wandered back into view, Brendan fenced in on either side between Joel and Joshua and glancing around for an escape with every step. Seeing me, Brendan tried to step away towards me, but blissfully clueless, Joshua and Joel stepped forward and cut off his escape path.

"So," Joel said, "where else you wanna go? Maybe head down onto the oval, and play some footy?"

Joshua nodded. "Yeah, you don't want to stick around here. I mean," and he nodded back to where I was sitting, "c'_mon_."

Brendan lowered his gaze, and glanced over to me before looking back up to the two guys. "You know, thank you for the offer," he said, and I could hear the tone in his voice that wasn't there a minute ago. "But I think I can spot the losers around here by myself. So thanks, but no thanks."

Silence fell. There were about a dozen students in the courtyard around me, and we were all now watching the scene with increasing interest. For their part, Joel and Joshua turned to each other with blank stares, aware of the joke but only realising after a few seconds who the punchline was.

Joel stepped forward, and everybody watching suddenly realised how tall he looked beside Brendan. "_What?_"

"I'm sorry Joel, but if you had one original thought in your head it would probably die of boredom," Brendan replied. "Can I get back to my one actual friend now?"

Joel sneered, and pulled his fist back. "You little runt," he grunted - then suddenly there was a blur of motion from Brendan, and Joel instantly dropped to the ground, curling up into a ball and panting heavily, blinking tears from his eyes.

Brendan leaned forward and lowered his voice to a whisper. "You know, dude, there are a couple of lessons in life that everybody should know, and at the very top of that list? Never threaten somebody at just the right height for delivering a swift kick to particularly vulnerable areas." Joshua turned to him, and Brendan grinned. "Do you _really_ want to be limping for a month?" he asked, then walked over to me without a glance backwards.

I stood up to meet him. "You know, I'm impressed," I said, "and trust me, I don't impress easily. But wasn't that technically cheating?"

Brendan's grin seemed to have permanently settled into place, and he laughed. "I prefer to think of it as winning. So how about that tour now?" he asked. I nodded, and we turned and walked away. "Ten cents, eh?" He paused, and frowned. "Got change for a twenty?"

* * *

"Hey!" called Scott, waving a sheet of paper in one hand as he jogged down to the school gate where Teresa stood waiting. "I forgot to pick up one of the camp permission forms," he said, coming to a stop beside the fence, "and I had to head back up to the office to get one."

"Cool," said Teresa, as they turned and left the school grounds. "I was worried you'd forgotten about me. Can I have a look?"

Scott nodded, handing her the forms. "We've got a week to get Mum and Dad to sign them and hand them back in." He paused, and frowned. "I think only one of us has to actually hand a form in, they weren't too clear on that."

Teresa smiled. "What if you hand in one that says 'yes', while I had in one that says 'no'?" Scott laughed, and Teresa gave him back the forms. "So did you see Peter today? I totally missed him."

"Yeah," Scott replied, brushing a stray lock of wavy hair out of his eyes. "He was showing around a new kid all day, I think someone said his name was Brendan. He's the son of the new music teacher."

"Oh, okay. I hope we get to meet him."

Turning a corner, they glanced down the street to see Zac, Kimberly and Billy walking towards them. Seeing the kids, the three teens waved and jogged up to meet them, Billy with a newspaper under one arm.

"Afternoon guys," said Teresa, as the three Senior Rangers reached them.

"Hey," smiled Kim. "You heading up to the Youth Centre as well?"

Teresa nodded. "Mind if we tag along?"

The Pink Ranger grinned. "Like of course not," and the group turned and continued.

Beside her, Billy glanced quickly through the newspaper before tucking it into his backpack. "Hmm. How peculiar..." he said thoughtfully.

"Billy, what's up?" asked Teresa.

"An article I was perusing in today's newspaper," the blond youth replied. "Apparently the entire crop of three fresh produce farms west of the city turned bad overnight. The farmers woke this morning and their produce was completely ruined. None could identify why."

"That is pretty weird," said Kim. "Maybe it's something to do with what Zordon said this morning."

"My thoughts exactly," Billy nodded.

Scott turned to them. "You guys... uh, talked to Zordon today?"

Kim nodded. "Nothing major, he just said that they'd picked up some kind of weird signal and we should all like keep our eyes open."

"Yeah," said Zac. "We didn't call, we didn't want to worry you guys."

"That's cool," replied Teresa. "Thanks."

Billy turned to Zac. "I was meaning to ask, actually," he began. "I have my advanced physics while you're engaged in historical studies. How did your lesson go?"

Zac shook his head. "Don't even ask man. We got our big assignment today, and after he'd handed it out Rumsfield stood up and said how he expected some unique and original insights into the material. I could feel the entire class lookin' at me."

"Zac, you know I love you," said Kimberly, "but don't you think you might be totally over-reacting?"

Billy nodded. "Kimberly's right Zac. It's not as if the Education Board set down this particular curriculum for the sole purpose of causing you psychological anxiety about your studies."

Zac kicked a stone as he walked, and watched it skitter away. "Yeah," he said softly, "I guess so," before turning to Billy, flashing a grin and clapping a hand against Billy's shoulder. "Even if I have no idea what you just said, man. Not a clue."

The teens laughed, and Kimberly stopped and glanced up to the sky. "Oh hey," she began. "Guys, check that out."

The four other Rangers all looked up and noticed what Kimberly had seen. It was hard to miss - high above them in the upper reaches of the atmosphere, a thin stream of grey cloud was being driven across the sky on a direct course west by a single current of wind. The spear of cloud seemingly tore the already-turbulent skies in half, leaving a sea of rolling black clouds in its wake and soon disappearing over the western horizon.

"Now _that's_ weird," nodded Zac. "Billy...?"

The Blue Ranger shook his head. "It doesn't correspond with any weather pattern I'm familiar with," Billy replied softly. "I couldn't even estimate what type of cloud we were observing."

Teresa gazed back across the darkening skies. "Do you think we should...?" she began, but her voice was drowned out by a sudden crack of thunder. The five Rangers glanced around in alarm, and without another word they turned and ran the rest of the way to the Youth Centre, followed all the way by angry, pelting drops of rain.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Jason climbed out of bed, fastened his communicator around his wrist and reached over to the chair beside his desk for the shirt he'd draped there last night. Making his way downstairs, he stretched his arms out behind him as he entered the kitchen, finding his mother glancing through the morning newspaper.

Mrs Scott looked up as Jason slid into a chair across from her. "Morning sweety."

"Morning," Jason nodded, reaching for a jug of apple juice. "Man, I slept well last night."

Mrs Scott smiled. "Tell us about it," she said. "Your father's already left for the day. It's a good thing you don't have any classes first up, I don't think you'd make them."

Jason nodded, running a hand through his hair. "Normally the birds wake me up first thing," he said. "I didn't hear them this morning."

His mother glanced up from the paper, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Now that you mention it, we didn't hear them either actually," she said.

Jason looked up. The part of his mind that had switched on when he'd first received his Power Coin was suddenly wide awake, charging through the cobwebs with a sword raised high. Every morning he'd had to listen to what sounded like thousands of lorikeets having a rave party just outside his window. It was such a part of every morning that he hadn't given its absence a second thought. But it was odd that this morning they'd decided to leave the house alone - and odd just didn't sit well with him.

Standing up, Jason crossed to the kitchen window and stared out into the backyard. Aside from a lonely cricket enjoying newfound freedom, the yard was almost totally silent. The stone bird bath in the far corner was deserted, while the bird feeder hanging above was also empty, the food scraps there untouched.

"So, next question," Jason began softly, "where did they all go?"

* * *

For what felt like the hundredth time that morning, Chief Air-Traffic Controller of Caloundra Airport John Smith glanced over the glowing radar screen in front of him, rubbed his tired eyes and drank a cup of warm coffee from his thermos. For as long as the airport had stood, the early shift had been his, a lonely vigil that saw the sun rise every morning but little else, and this morning had been typically uneventful - two take-offs, one landing, and a couple of hot-air balloons just before dawn. The most exciting thing to happen was when he'd called the Bureau of Meteorology to report the wind blowing in exactly the opposite direction than usual for this time of year.

John smiled, and leaned back in his chair. The airspace above the city was just somewhere nobody wanted to be these days.

The door of the control tower opened behind him, and he glanced to his watch as Liam Young stepped into the room.

"You're early," said John. "It's not even ten o'clock yet."

Liam hung his coat by the door. "Figured you'd be lonely," the younger man replied with a smile. "Plus, I have the morning paper _and_ - wait for it - fresh coffee."

John grinned. "Music to my ears."

Liam stepped over to the control panel. "Anything interesting happening?"

John shook his head, and glanced back down over the screen. "Nah, nothing..." he began, but stopped. There _was_ something registering, a tiny blip in the northwest corner of the screen that hadn't been there a second ago. No, change that, a line of somethings, steadily moving down towards the centre of the screen.

Liam saw the expression dawning on John's face. "What's wrong?"

"Take a look at this," said John quickly, tapping the screen.

Liam glanced down over John's shoulder, and his eyes went wide. "What the hell is that?"

Even as they watched, the line continued to creep across the screen, a blanket of something on a direct course for the city.

John glanced up to the windows but the tower faced south - with increasing worry, he pushed his chair back, crossed the room and pulled the door open. Stepping outside onto the balcony, he looked west, straining his eyes to see through the morning haze - for a brief second the clouds parted and he saw it, a huge black mass stretched out against the blue sky. The mass was solid at first glance, but the longer he watched, the more it appeared to be disjointed and broken, made up of smaller figures all moving with a single mind.

Behind him, Liam shook his head in disbelief. "We gotta do something," he mumbled, "call somebody."

John sagged back against the wall. "Yeah," he replied, turning to the younger man. "But _who?_"

* * *

Even as the school bell signalling the fifteen minute morning tea break echoed across the school, everyone in our class was already heading for the door of the classroom.

"So," I began, as Brendan and I made it to our backpacks and began unloading food, "what do you want to do this recess?"

Brendan shrugged. "Oh, I don't know, something interesting maybe?"

I smiled as we stepped away from the bag-racks and began to walk down towards the oval. "I don't know if you missed the 'Welcome to Caloundra' brochure, but around here, 'interesting' is not always a good thing."

Brendan laughed, as we passed the music room and made it onto the oval, joining the large number of students already enjoying the break over the wide green field. But as we walked, Brendan came to a stop, and turning back to him, I saw him staring up at something in the sky.

"Peter," he said, pointing. "What's that?"

I followed his gaze up into the sky, and immediately saw what he'd seen. It was impossible to miss - an enormous black cloud filled the sky, approaching from the west and steadily stretching across to the north and south. But as we stood watching, I realised two facts in rapid succession - the first, that it wasn't a cloud but a swarm of animals, screeching and whistling and thundering through the air. In the centre of the cloud, I could make out birds of every kind, pigeons, sparrows and seagulls, and lorikeets in flashes of green and yellow. The eastern part of the cloud seemed to be entirely buzzing insects, while the western part was nothing but screeching bats.

And the second thing I realised was that the flock of animals was flying on a direct course straight for the school.

"Something interesting," I replied. By now the dark mass looming over us had caught the attention of the students and teachers on the oval, and everyone had turned to look.

I glanced quickly from the animals to the oval full of students and back again. I couldn't even begin to imagine why they were all acting like that, or more likely what force was controlling them, but a wild guess was all I needed. And we were in trouble.

Brendan turned to me. "I take it this isn't a normal migration pattern for the coast?" he asked.

I shook my head. "We need to get into one of the underground shelters, as of five minutes ago."

Brendan nodded, and looked down towards the oval. "Fine by me, but what about them?"

I glanced across the oval, thinking quickly, and an idea suddenly took shape. There was only one thing that would get people in this city moving like nothing else, and cupping my hands around my mouth, I raised my voice. "Monster attack!" I cried. "Everyone, to the shelters!"

The cry spread across the oval like wildfire, and within seconds, everyone had turned and began running back up towards the school buildings. A crowd of people surged past Brendan and I, and caught by the crowd, we turned and ran, racing down a path that led to one of the underground shelters. Ducking into a garden and out of the mass of people, I stopped and looked back - the flock was closer and a lot louder, but I had to somehow make sure Brendan got to safety and then slip away from him to meet up with the others.

Suddenly, a sea of students surged between us, forcibly shoving Brendan backwards away from me. Trapped on all sides by the crowd, Brendan fought to turn back but couldn't - then, sunlight disappeared, and he was pushed backwards into the darkness of the shelter. All around, people were screaming and calling out to each other. Brendan desperately scanned the faces around him for mine, then, horror of horrors, the armoured door slammed shut with a clang.

"No!" cried Brendan, but his voice was lost in the chaos. "Peter's still out there! No!"

* * *

Tommy, Zac, Billy, Trini and Kimberly had just escaped from almost two hours of Pythagorus when their communicators chimed, the sound almost lost in the noise of everybody leaving class. The teens glanced around the bustling locker hallway, and Trini pointed to the empty chemistry lab a few metres away.

The Rangers quickly ducked into the empty room, and Kimberly pulled the door shut behind them.

Tommy raised his communicator and spoke. "Go ahead Zordon, we read you."

"Rangers," crackled Zordon's voice. "There is a situation developing to the north of the city."

"You mean that big cloud that passed by a few minutes ago?" asked Zac.

"The cloud was much more than that," replied Zordon. "In any event, the Junior Team needs your immediate assistance."

Zac glanced over to the lab windows. "Gotcha Zordon, we'll be there as soon as we..." He broke off suddenly, his eyes focussing on something in the distance. "Oh _damn_," he muttered. "Guys, check it out."

Something that could not have been human was making its way along the road that passed by the school. The beast was at least two metres tall - its strong muscular body was covered in reddish-brown hair, while it's long arms ended in unusually-large hands. Even as they stood watching, a car screeched to a halt in front of the beast, and the terrified driver fell out of the vehicle and ran for his life - the monster roared, a savage primeval sound, and smashing its fist down through the hood in a screech of twisting metal, it ripped the motor out and threw it away before continuing.

"Zordon, we're gonna be busy," said Trini. "Probably for a while."

"We see it as well," came the reply. "I'll contact the Junior Team and tell them. Be careful Rangers," and the communicator fell silent.

Tommy glanced around the group. "We gotta call Jason."

"He doesn't take Maths B, remember?" replied Kim. "He has these two lessons free. He doesn't usually get here on Thursdays until morning tea, but he should be on his way."

Tommy nodded, and tapped his communicator again. "Jason, where are you?"

* * *

Across the city, making his way through the crowded city plaza after watching the ominous black cloud descend to the north, Jason glanced around, ducked back into an alley between two shops and raised his communicator.

"I'm here," he replied. "The cloud, right?"

"Negative," Billy said. "There's a far more pressing problem currently passing the school."

"Understood," Jason replied. "On my way."

Reaching for his communicator, Jason quickly glanced around the plaza to make sure nobody was watching when he saw it. Something was taking shape in the air in the very centre of the mall, flickering in and out of existence but steadily growing more solid. Leaving the alleyway, he stepped closer to investigate, and realised there was not one but three distinct shapes taking form, like steadily-thickening smoke. By now, the people around the plaza had all noticed the commotion. Realising what was happening, many people froze in terror, while even more dropped their bags and ran for their lives. Jason glanced to his communicator but let it fall as he looked back to the three dark shapes.

He hated the idea of leaving the others - particularly the Junior Team - to fend for themselves, but what choice did he have? At least the teams were together, he was now up against three opponents on his own.

With a rumble like faraway thunder, the shapes suddenly became solid, and there were three ancient Australian Aboriginal warriors standing in the centre of the plaza. The Red Ranger recognised them instantly - wearing nothing but loincloths around their waists, bone jewellery adorned their necks and wrists and their dark-skinned bodies were streaked with red and white war-paint. The warrior in the centre was wielding two large long-handled throwing clubs, each with a bladed hook. The warrior to the left held a long spear in both hands, while the third was armed with two short stumps of wood with serrated edges - fighting daggers embedded with shark teeth, Jason recalled from a history lesson long ago.

Across the plaza, one of the shopsellers stepped back in fear and stumbled over a wooden bench, and the three warriors immediately turned to the noise. Jason glanced around for anything to draw their attention, and finding only a garbage can beside him, he sent it skittering across the stone tiles with a kick.

The bin rolled past the three warriors and they stopped, turning their full attention back to Jason.

"Guys," he said, raising his communicator, "I've got serious problems of my own. I'll be there when I can, but you're on your own for now." Letting his wrist fall, the Red Ranger turned back to the three warriors and raised his arms defensively.

As one, the warriors raised their weapons and stepped towards him.

* * *

With the school deserted, I raced away from the shelter, out through the buildings and back towards the oval. Rounding a corner, I saw Teresa and Scott waiting by the sixth grade classroom, while Aaron and Sarah were jogging through the garden towards us.

"You guys saw it?" I asked.

Aaron nodded. "Whatever it is, it ain't natural."

"First priority guys - there's still some people down on the oval," said Teresa. "We have to get them to safety."

I nodded. "C'mon," and stepping backwards into the abandoned classroom, we all reached for our back pockets. "It's morphin' time!"

"Parasaurolophus!"

"Rhamphorynchus!"

"Brontosaurus!"

"Velociraptor!"

"Stegosaurus!"

Morphing in five brilliant flashes of light, we turned and raced back down to the oval. Several kids who'd been on the other side of the field were only now reaching the hill.

Aaron turned to me. "At least we're invulnerable," he said, although I barely heard him over the noise of the approaching flock.

"But they aren't," I said, as students raced past us back into the school, and Sarah, Scott and Teresa ran down to usher the last few students to safety.

Aaron shook his head. "Sure beats monster of the day, huh?"

I shook my head. "Rita's never shown this kind of power before," I said, as the last few students passed us heading back into the school. I looked out over the oval to make sure we'd gotten everyone, and my gaze immediately fell onto a boy still down on the oval, standing between the carpark and the gravel path that led out of the grounds, struggling to free himself from something. I knew there was a stormdrain down there, and a closer look confirmed my suspicion - the boy's foot was wedged solidly between the bars of the grate.

"We get everyone?" asked Aaron, as the other three Rangers jogged back up towards us.

I shook my head. "There's still somebody down there," I said quickly. "I think his foot's stuck in the grate." Everybody immediately spun around, and I looked down to Sarah, the furthest away from us. "Sarah, go!" Before I'd even finished the sentence, the Purple Ranger was already sprinting back down the hill.

Sarah glanced to the sky as she raced past the bike-racks towards the carpark - the cloud was rapidly approaching, individual animals now visible amongst the dark and otherwise shapeless cloud. This would have to be quick - the suburbs overlooking the school were turning dark. Finally reaching the boy and seeing that he was frantic with worry and a second away from bursting into tears, Sarah saw I'd been right - his foot was trapped between two bars in the grate. Sarah glanced up to him, and recognised the face staring back.

"Daniel?" she asked. "Daniel Lawson?"

The boy's eyes went wide. "You... you know me?"

"I'm friends with your sister," she said. "Don't worry, I'm here to help." She looked back down to the grate, and shook her head. She hadn't thought to ask me for my sword, and burning through the bars with her blaster might end up hurting Daniel. There was one option.

"Here," she said, putting his hand on her shoulder, "hang on."

She knelt down, grabbed the bars on either side of Daniel's foot and began to physically force them apart. After a second the bars began to creak and bend, and although it felt like forever, Daniel soon pulled his foot free.

"Awesome," nodded Sarah, and looked up. Shadow fell - the swarm filled the sky, everywhere she looked, a screeching, roaring juggernaut of animal fury, the leading animals only metres away and closing in. No time left.

Out of options, Sarah reached down and wrenched open the grate, revealing the dark crawlspace below. Pulling Daniel under her arm, she jumped in and hunched down over the terrified boy, slamming the grate shut above her just as the swarm hit and blacked out the sky.

Watching from the hill, we all saw Sarah dive down into the grate a second before the carpark was totally lost from view. The noise from the malevolent black cloud was almost deafening.

"Guys, move!" I shouted, and the four of us turned and ran back into the school, Scott and Teresa on one pathway and Aaron and I on the other, our hearts racing and our feet pounding the ground. Shadow fell - the sun was gone. Looking across, I saw Scott and Teresa dive into the seventh grade classroom, Teresa pulling the door shut behind them.

"The grade six classroom!" I called, and Aaron nodded, diving through the door as he passed. I felt something jabbing at my back - and then I leaped into the building, kicking the door shut behind me with such force the entire wall shook. Aaron cleared the room in one leap and slammed the windows shut on the other side, while I ran over and shut the door connecting our classroom to the next. Letting out a sigh of relief, I turned and jogged back over to Aaron.

The screeching flock had by now reached the school. Through the windows, we could see insects, bats and dozens of types of birds whipping past the building, the steadily-thickening cloud eventually the only thing visible.

"There's pelicans and sea eagles out there," I said, shouting over the noise. "They'd be doing some damage, they're bigger than most people."

"This is crazy," said Aaron. "What on Earth could be causing them to act like this?"

"I don't know," I replied, then turned to the window. "I hope Sarah's okay."

"I just hope Currimundi's okay," said Aaron. "These things must be laying waste to half the suburb. We have to do something."

"Even if they're being controlled by something else, they're still just animals, right?" I said. "Maybe we can, I don't know, scare them away."

"With what?" asked Aaron. "The only thing that'd scare away this many would have to be a flock of something..." He paused. "Bigger."

With the same idea taking shape in both our minds, the Aqua Ranger turned to me, and we raised our voices and lifted our arms to the sky.

"We need dinozord power, _now!_"

* * *

An uneasy silence fell over the plaza as Jason faced down the approaching warriors and counted his options. He didn't have many - the other Rangers all had their hands full, and there were too many civilians around to morph. His only choice - and one he sure didn't like - was to fight the three warriors unmorphed, or at least keep them at bay until help arrived.

The thought of losing didn't even cross his mind.

His mind made up, Jason stepped forward, analysing each of the three warriors. He ran his eyes over each, trying to remember anything he'd ever heard about the fighting styles of the Australian Aborigines. Aboriginal tribes clashed often, and while he drew a blank on combat skills, he did recall that the Aborigines were skilled hunters, deadly with long-range and throwing weapons. Okay. That was something. He just had to close the fight to hand-to-hand, and he stood a good chance of making it through this alive.

The three warriors stopped, facing him from a short distance, and the warrior with the two clubs stepped forward, raising the weapons and narrowing his eyes. Jason held his gaze, aware of nothing else but his opponent and his heart pounding in his chest.

Something shifted - a glance, muscles tensing, a prelude to motion - and Jason instinctively leaped to the side as his adversary sent the two weapons slicing through the air towards him. The two blades spun out of sight behind him and Jason spun to the ground, arms raised. Strangely enough, none had moved...

...and in that split-second he realized he was dead. Automatically taking to the air, he spun sideways as the weapons completed their arcs and returned, carving through the air where his head had been a half-second ago. The warrior reached out and plucked the weapons from the air, as Jason regained his footing and turned back to face them.

Okay. Focus. He'd only survived so far through luck - if he hadn't remembered that those throwing clubs were essentially boomerangs, his head would already be in about three separate pieces.

Unfazed by his miss, the centre warrior muttered something in a low voice, raised the two clubs and began marching determinedly towards the Red Ranger. Hesitating a second longer, Jason leaped forward to attack.

The warrior slashed with his weapons as Jason approached, carving the heavy blades through the air. Jason dodged to the right, stepped back around a second blow and ducked low under a horizontal slash. The warrior spun the blade back around - Jason blocked the blow and struck the warrior back with a palm strike to the chest, following him forward and aiming a high kick for the warrior's head. His opponent ducked the blow and struck back, carving the blades forward. Jason ducked under the weapons, stepped around a low kick and landed a blow to the warrior's stomach. His opponent grunted and swung low - Jason leaped up and back over the bladed clubs, and when the warrior swung for his chest, Jason caught the man's left wrist, and sent the warrior stumbling with a blow to the ribs.

The warrior staggered back and Jason followed after him, kicking forward. The warrior spun to the side as Jason landed, and aimed the clubs for Jason's neck - the Red Ranger ducked under the blow and struck back with a roundhouse kick. The warrior struck away his foot and slashed low, but Jason kicked his wrist away and brought his heel back towards the warrior's jaw. The warrior stumbled back but recovered quickly and slashed both bladed clubs for Jason's chest - Jason reached up and caught both blades, holding them in place, before somersaulting backwards and catching the warrior with a kick to the chin.

Enraged, the warrior raised one of his clubs and launched the weapon towards his adversary. Jason watched as the weapon sliced through the air towards him - reaching out, his fingers closed around the handle and he pulled the weapon out of its arc. Without slowing down, the Red Ranger spun around and sent the weapon curving straight back towards the surprised warrior. The club's handle smashed into the warrior's chest with a loud crack and vanished in a puff of smoke. Eyes wide, the warrior looked down slowly to his chest, before falling backwards and hitting the ground, his body dissipating like smoke. Jason smiled, pausing to catch his breath. _One down_...

The two remaining warriors glared at the Red Ranger, looks of dark fury crossing their faces.

"Yeah," said Jason, wiping sweat from his brow. "Well boys, you're relying on those weapons a little too much, and I just figured out why. Whoever you are, whatever you want - game over." He stepped towards them. "Whenever you're ready."

The warrior with the spear grunted, and almost faster than he could follow, the weapon flashed towards him. He stepped aside as the blade passed - the warrior drew the weapon back and slashed it again. Jason ducked back out of danger, dodging again to the side before somersaulting over as the blade swept under him. Finding his footing, Jason immediately ducked as the blade flashed above, dropping low and kicking another thrust away.

But as he rolled to his feet, the third warrior attacked from the side, raking his two daggers through the air. The warrior continued slashing after him, but backing away, Jason managed to put the third warrior between the spear-wielder and himself - Jason blocked a right jab, batted away a low slice and dodged a thrust to the ribs, only to come under attack from the spear again. He stepped around one slice and blocked another, and when the spear-wielder tried again, he grabbed the weapon as it flashed by. The warrior froze, and Jason brought the weapon forward and forced the warrior back with a high jump kick - the warrior stumbled back away, and the spear was now his.

Recalling every time he'd charged into battle alongside Billy, Jason stabbed the weapon down beside him, snapping the blade off before spinning it back to his side. Catching their breath for a second, the two warriors attacked again - using the spear, Jason blocked a lunge from a serrated dagger and used the other end to bat the spear's former owner aside. The knife-wielder slashed both blades - Jason blocked them both, spun the staff around and struck the warrior back. Spinning back around, he blocked a lunge from the second warrior, planted the staff into the ground and leaped high, taking the warrior off his feet with a scissor-kick. The warrior crashed to the ground with a strangled cry and instantly vanished into dust.

The third warrior let out an angry cry of battle and raced to avenge his fallen team-mate. With a triumphant smile, Jason spun to face him - the warrior was attacking out of anger and fear. The man slashed out at Jason, but the moves were slow, clumsy and increasingly out of sheer desperation. The Red Ranger blocked a high swipe, dodged around a blow to the ribs before turning and catching the warrior's wrist. Spinning him aside, Jason sent him crashing with a high spin kick. The warrior staggered back clutching his chest, before finally falling forward, his body nothing but smoke by the time it hit the ground.

Silence fell as Jason turned away and caught his breath. He couldn't help but notice everybody there watching him, and that probably wasn't a good thing.

"Well done sir," came a sudden voice, and Jason knew from the speaker's voice she was smiling. "But in the future, I think you should leave the badguys to the professionals."

Jason turned to see the Pink Ranger standing by the entrance to the alley. Wary of the witnesses in the area, Kimberly continued. "Now if you'd like to come with me, we can get you checked out by a doctor." Jason nodded, and walked towards her. Lowering her voice, Kim continued. "I came to get you, the others need us. I can't believe you just did all that."

Jason smiled. "Neither can I," he said. "At least everybody's okay."

"What about you?" she asked.

"I'm a little puffed," he replied, "but I think I'll be fine." Kimberly nodded, and stepping into the shadows of the alley, the two reached for their communicators and vanished from the scene.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

The monster continued down the street away from the school, leaving a trail of shattered street lights and twisted car parts behind it. Reaching the intersection between the city's major cemetery and the Uniting Church, the beast crossed the road, tore down the fence and entered the park, still moving towards the city centre when four multi-coloured figures somersaulted over his hand and landed on the grass before him. The beast glanced up and growled as the Green, Yellow, Blue and Black Rangers turned to face him.

Now up close, the Rangers could clearly see the beast's features. He was tall but stood with a stooped appearance, his head sunken into his shoulders. Two deeply-set brown eyes looked out from under protruding eyebrows and a domed skull, while the beast's growl revealed a mouth with enormous sickly-yellow jagged teeth.

"Anybody else thinkin' neanderthal?" asked Zac.

Billy shook his head. "Posture and bone structure suggest more cro-magnum than anything else."

"Right. Thanks."

The beast turned to each of the Rangers. "You are the army defending this city?" it asked, in a voice earthy and primitive.

Tommy nodded. "You'd better believe it."

"And you won't be taking a single step past us," said Trini, her Power Daggers materialising in her hands.

The beast shook its head. "Your kind and your unbelievable arrogance. If only you knew how small you really were," and it stepped towards them. "I think I'll show you." And raising its enormous fists, the monster charged towards them.

"Not on our watch," said Tommy. "C'mon guys, let's show this creep who he's messin' with."

"Right!"

The Rangers raced forward to meet the monster head on, and reaching him first, Tommy took to the air with a jump kick. The beast ducked under the Green Ranger's boot and swung a punch for Tommy's helmet - the Green Ranger dodged, somersaulting out of danger. Finding his footing, Tommy attacked again, leaping forward with a high punch. The blow landed but had no effect, and the monster swung again. The Green Ranger struck away the monster's fist, before reaching for his Dragon Dagger and slashing it across the monster's chest - remaining unfazed, the monster slammed its fist against Tommy's chest and sent the Green Ranger crashing.

Even as Tommy fell, the Blue and Yellow Rangers were racing forward - Billy swung a high judo chop but the monster blocked the blow and retaliated, forcing him back. As the Blue Ranger ducked back out of danger, Trini swung both her daggers for the monster's body - the beast caught her wrists and sent her crashing with a low kick. Rolling to her feet, Trini joined Billy and the two attacked again - the monster stepped back around Trini's daggers and casually swept her away. He glanced back to Billy just as the Bluer Ranger took to the air with a high kick, but lumbering forward, he smashed Billy out of the air.

The monster turned to survey the battlefield, only to face the Black Ranger standing a few feet away.

"So, one yet stands," the beast growled, but his eyes suddenly grew wide, and he stopped. "You... you fight _with_ them?" it asked.

Zac nodded. "It's called standing by your friends."

"But why?" the creature growled. "What with everything..."

Without warning, the Red and Pink Rangers somersaulted over the Black Ranger, landing twin kicks to the monsters' shoulders and forcing him back. Jason and Kim dropped to the ground beside Zac as the monster stumbled away, and the other three Rangers ran over.

"You guys okay?" asked Jason.

"Barely," Tommy replied. "Take your time why don't you?"

Jason smiled beneath his visor. "Got here eventually didn't I?"

"What's the deal with this loser anyway?" asked Kim.

"Bigfoot here's strong and smart," said Zac. "He was just kickin' our butts."

"Well, the bigger they are," said Jason, and raised his hand. "Power Sword!" His blade formed in a flash of red light, and he turned to the Black Ranger standing beside him. "You wanna get in there?"

"You had to ask?"

Jason nodded. "Kim, some cover if you can."

"You got it," said the Pink Ranger, and summoning her Power Bow, the Pink Ranger immediately shot a volley of arrows at the monster, the whole area erupting in sparks and smoke. The beast staggered back, and Zac and Jason charged forward on the offensive. But recovering from the barrage, the monster caught Zac's fist and batted it away, before blocking Jason's blade. The Red Ranger slashed again, the beast stepping around the sword before dodging a high kick from Zac. Reaching back, the monster grabbed one of the fence poles behind him, wrenched it out of the ground and turned back to the Rangers. Raising his new weapon, the beast struck away a blow from Zac, blocked Jason's sword, sent Zac crashing with a blow to the chest before knocking Jason's sword aside and sending the Red Ranger crashing with a solid punch to the stomach, before ramming the pole down into the dirt and grinning victoriously.

The two Rangers climbed to their feet as the rest of the team raced over.

"You guys weren't kidding," said Jason.

"So what now?" asked Kimberly. "We totally bounced off this guy."

Trini glanced up, and nodded. "If six Rangers can't stop him," she said, "then let's see what eleven can do."

In five flashes of light, the Junior Team materialised in the park alongside the Senior Rangers. I turned to Jason beside me.

"Thanks for the party invite," I smiled.

"Well you got here," he replied with a grin. "How's Currimundi?"

"Animal control problem cleared up nicely," replied Aaron. "A bit of property damage, but nobody was hurt too badly."

Teresa nodded. "Is this our badguy?"

"That's him," said Zac. "Although trust us, he's a lot tougher than he looks."

Across from us, the monster made no move to attack, simply staring down the team of eleven Rangers. "All eleven," the beast murmured, his lips curling into a dark grin. "About time."

"You're actually happy to see the entire team together?" asked Jason. "Well that was your first and last mistake. Guys," and the Red Ranger glanced back to us, "let's make this guy wish he'd stayed home." And with that, we charged towards our opponent.

Scott and Teresa reached him first, immediately leaping high with two side- by-side kicks. The beast spun to the side, ducking under both blows, before blocking their attacks and striking them both away. The beast turned as Aaron attacked, stepping forward and swinging a right roundhouse punch for the monster's jaw - the beast struck away his fist, blocking a second punch and catching a third, before sweeping Aaron away with a left backhand. Sarah and I took the opportunity to attack, dropping down in front of the monster but faring no better, every blow dodged or blocked. The monster ducked under a high kick and lifted me off my feet with a blow to the chest, before batting away a punch from Sarah and sending her stumbling back with a low kick.

Even as we fell, the Senior Team attacked again. Jason leaped forward, slashing with his sword, but the monster dodged every slice of the blade and struck the Red Ranger away. Tommy and Zac leaped forward to take up the battle, but ignoring their blows, the beast blocked a blow from Tommy and slammed him back with a low punch, before stepping around a high kick from Zac and lightly, almost gently, shoving him away. Kim, Trini and Billy attacked all at once - moving with surprising agility, the beast ducked under Billy's kick, caught Trini's fist and spun the Yellow Ranger off her feet, launching her into Billy, downing them both. The beast spun around as Kim aimed her bow, but pulling the metal pole free of the ground, knocked the bow aside and sent the Pink Ranger crashing with a blow to the stomach.

Kimberly crashed to the ground alongside the rest of us, and leaning on one another, we climbed to our feet.

"Aren't we supposed to be winning by now?" I asked.

Beside me, Jason nodded. "See, normally these fights go a lot better."

"Yeah," said Zac, "except Bigfoot just totally _wrecked_ us."

Facing us down, the monster laughed a savage bark. "For an army of warriors, I'm not impressed," it said, raising the staff and taking a menacing step towards us.

I glanced to Jason, wondering what to do, when beside me, Teresa suddenly gritted her teeth and stepped forward.

"We don't want to impress you," she said, "we just want you to back the heck off. Power Whip!"

Forming in her outstretched hand, Teresa cracked the whip towards the approaching monster, the stinging blows at the monster's feet and legs forcing him back. Teresa continued forward, slicing the whip through the air around the monster - he raised the metal pole high above him, but Teresa curled the whip around the bar and dragged it from the monster's hands. With the bar still ensnared by the whip, Teresa sent it back towards the monster, the metal bar smashing him to the side as the White Ranger swung to the left and right. She pulled the whip back and the pole fell to the ground - the beast reached down, grabbed a park bench and launched it towards her. Standing her ground, Teresa cracked the whip towards the chair, the whip carving clean through the bench and both halves falling harmlessly to the ground.

Jason glanced back to the team. If forcing him to retreat was the best they could come up with, they'd have to go with it and come up with something else later. Remembering the monster's earlier hesitation, he turned to the Black and Aqua Rangers. "Aaron, Zac, get in there!"

Beside him, the two Rangers nodded, and somersaulting over Teresa, they both swung side-by-side punches for the monster's head - he blocked both but the Rangers struck with their other hands, both blows finding their target. The beast recovered and struck away a left hook from Aaron, but the Aqua Ranger sent the beast crashing with an upper-cut, while Zac continued forward and landed another powerful blow. The monster staggered back, turned to strike the Black Ranger but froze, his giant fist hanging in the air - and Aaron attacked again with a blow to the stomach followed by a rapid punch to the jaw.

The monster howled and stumbled back, and aiming her Power Bow, Kim shot a barrage at arrows at his retreating form, while Aaron summoned his Power Blasters and forced the monster back even further. The rest of us ran forward and joined them as the monster staggered back in a cloud of smoke and sparks.

"Mark my words," the beast growled angrily, "this is _not_ over," and as dirt underneath him began to swirl up around him, he vanished in a cloud of smoke, leaving the eleven of us alone in the park.

"Man," said Sarah, resting on Aaron's shoulder, "that was brutal."

"You're right there," I said, then turned to Teresa and glanced to the whip at her side. "Damn."

Teresa smiled beneath her visor. "Thanks."

"What was that thing anyway?" puffed Scott, still catching his breath.

"We didn't get a chance to ask," replied Kim, "what with him, you know, stomping on our heads."

Jason glanced over to the Black and Aqua Rangers. "At least we forced him to retreat," he said. "C'mon, we'd better get back to the Command Centre." Everybody nodded, and we reached for our communicators and teleported from the scene.

* * *

"Zordon, what was the deal with that ape monster?" asked Zac, once we were all back in the Command Centre standing before Zordon's energy tube. "He totally worked us."

"I'm more interested in those three warriors," said Jason. "Where did they come from? Who were they?"

"And what about the birds?" added Scott. "What was making them act like that?"

"Rangers," began Zordon. "Since the first attack this morning Alpha and I have been collecting information, and although we may be able to answer most of your questions, I assure you we can only answer one at a time."

"Okay," I said. "Well what about we start with the ape, given we can definitely expect a rematch."

Zordon nodded. "If you could turn your attention to the viewing screen," and he paused as we all turned to face the glass screen on the far wall, only to see news footage of our battle with the monster. "Your opponent was a Doolagahl," Zordon continued. "A creature of legend from the tales of the Australian Aborigines, the Doolagahl is also known as a yowie or a bunyip. A fearsome and dangerous creature, the Doolagahl is the Australian equivalent to the Himalayan Yeti or the American 'Bigfoot', yet recorded sightings of the Doolagahl predate the other two by centuries."

"So Rita's drawing inspiration from the legends of Australia's indigenous peoples?" asked Billy.

Trini nodded. "It wouldn't be the first time. Remember the Minotaur monster, and King Sphinx?"

"It would certainly appear to be the case," said Zordon, and the image changed to a shot of three fierce Aboriginal warriors. "The three opponents you fought in the city, Jason, were referred to in many Aboriginal legends as the Three."

Jason glanced back up to Zordon. "No other adjectives?"

Alpha stepped forward. "They didn't need any," he replied. "According to legend, those three fighters were the most skilled hunters of all time, so good they began hunting for fun. Expelled from their tribe and free to wander the countryside, they sought out battle and killed all in their path."

Zordon continued the story. "But the Fates stepped in and punished them for their hubris, and the Three suffered the ultimate humiliation - challenged to combat by a young unarmed boy, and soundly defeated." Zordon paused, and glanced down to Jason. "Odd how these legends work out."

Jason smiled. "Odd indeed."

"But what about the birds?" asked Sarah, looking back up to Zordon. "That felt pretty real."

"That's the one thing we aren't sure about," replied the sage. "We found no evidence of supernatural interference or mind control, and the flock scattered as soon as the zords appeared. However there may still be a link - to the Aboriginal peoples of Australia, the land and animals are all fundamentally tied together, a part of each other, each animal with its own spirit. While we have no proof, that flock of animals is a part of what's happening, somehow."

Trini nodded. "Usually everything Rita comes up with is tied to a monster in the centre. Is that where the Doolagahl comes into this?"

Zordon paused before replying. "I don't think so," he replied. "The three incidents this morning are only connected through their links to Aboriginal mythology. I don't think the Doolagahl is particularly important to whatever is going on. The beast was more an aspect of something larger, rather than the cause. Which makes this very unusual."

"He really schooled us though," said Kim. "Does the Doola...thingy have any soft-spots we can aim for next time?"

Zordon shook his head. "We haven't found anything yet."

"Peter's right though," said Zac. "Really not looking forward to round two."

"Which is inevitable," said Billy. "And sooner rather than later."

"Rangers, there is nothing more you can do here," Zordon said. "Alpha and I will continue to monitor the city, but you should return before you are missed. Take care Rangers, and keep your eyes open. Whatever we're facing, it's not finished with us yet."

We all nodded, and once we'd demorphed, still aching from the battle, we reached for our communicators and teleported back to our respective schools.

* * *

A few minutes after we returned to Currimundi, the all-clear was called, and the underground shelters were opened up and everybody ventured back out. The five of us wouldn't have been missed during the chaos - all of our teachers and friends would have assumed we'd been caught in the crowd and had taken refuge someplace else - and splitting up to return to our classes, we all hung back and slipped unnoticed into the crowd. It was usually a solid half hour before calm was restored and the teachers were able to call the roll, so nobody was too worried about getting back to class in a hurry.

As the crowd of students I'd joined approached the sixth grade room, I saw Brendan standing by the door anxiously scanning all the faces passing by. Remembering how I'd left him, I felt a tiny pang of guilt, and immediately jogged over to him.

"Hey," I said, and hearing my voice he immediately spun around to me.

"Peter!" he said. "Man, I'm so glad to see you, when you didn't follow me into the shelter I totally freaked out. I've been looking for you ever since."

I smiled. "It's okay. See?" and I rested my hand on his shoulder. "I'm here, totally okay."

He nodded. "Yeah, I know, it's just, that was pretty freaky."

I nodded. "They usually are."

Brendan glanced around at the students filing past us on their way back to class. "But everyone's acting so, I don't know, so normal about it," he said. "This really does happen a lot, doesn't it?"

"More than you should probably think about," I replied.

He nodded, and turned back to me. "So," he began, his grin returning, "where the heck_ did_ you end up?"

* * *

Tibrogargan stood at the very peak of the mountain, in a clearing surrounded by ancient moss-covered boulders, staring out over the entire Sunshine Coast. So much had changed in the years he'd slept, and there was so much to take in and learn. But even with his attention on the city in the distance, he still heard tiny foot-steps behind him.

"You were right," he said, in a voice that seemed to tremble from deep below. "The army fought well, and now they rest."

"I did warn you," the girl replied, joining him by the cliff edge.

Tibrogargan nodded. "Their leader bested the Three in combat, and they forced the Doolagahl to retreat. I had underestimated them." He paused, and a slow smile spread across his face. "But I still have forces to summon they have not dreamed of."

The girl looked up to him, eager anticipation in her eyes. "What do you plan?"

"To unleash the Kwinkan, for a start. The warriors can fight, most impressively, so I will send them enemies that they cannot."

"Excellent," the girl said, nodding her approval. "And then, you can wipe that city off the face of the Earth." Hearing the tone in her voice, Tibrogargan's brows lowered, and he turned to her. The girl caught his glance and immediately contrived to look innocent. "To avenge our people," she added quickly. "Surely you have not forgotten them."

Tibrogargan nodded. "Of course, I'm sorry. My thoughts seemed... elsewhere, for a moment. But fear not, I will avenge many wrongs before I am done." But when he turned back to the girl, she was gone.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

"And Brendan, this is Teresa, Scott, Sarah and Aaron," I said, introducing each Ranger in turn.

Brendan smiled and waved. "Hi," he said. "It's great to meet you all."

"Welcome to Currimundi," smiled Sarah. "So how have your first couple of days been?"

"Pretty cool," replied Brendan. "My last school was in the middle of Brisbane, so yeah, like I told Peter, Currimundi's definitely an improvement." He paused. "Except for the whole almost being killed on my second day thing, of course."

Aaron nodded. "You first monster attack, huh?" he asked. "It'll stick with you."

"Yeah," Brendan replied. "I mean, I expected something like that, moving to Caloundra, but never so close. Does that happen a lot?"

"It's pretty regular," said Teresa, then smiled. "Don't worry. As scary as it sounds, you actually do get used to it."

Scott nodded. "The school has a monster drill we practice once a week or so. One time the monster attacked while we were _having_ the drill," he added, with probably a little too much enthusiasm, "so it saved everyone a bit of time."

"I guess that would've been helpful," Brendan smiled, then shook his head. "You know the worst part? I just hated feeling so small, ironically enough," he added with a grin. "Like, all we were supposed to do was run and hide. I guess I'm just not much of a 'run and hide' kinda guy."

Sarah smiled. "I don't think anybody is," she said. "Anyway, what are you doing right now? We all usually head up to the Youth Centre after school and hang out. I think we've all got a karate lesson this afternoon..."

"Wait a sec..." he began, glancing around the group, "you guys are into martial arts?"

"Yeah," I replied. "We're good friends with all our teachers, and we've all got belts of varying colours. What about you, I mean, have you studied karate or anything?"

Brendan looked away. "Sort of," he replied with a smile. "When I lived down in Brisbane, my family was right next door to this tiny video shop that only had those old kung-fu flicks. My sister and I must've watched every single movie like a dozen times."

Teresa smiled. "And you really learnt discipline, self-control and inner strength from them?"

He shook his head. "No," he replied. "Mostly just how to kick butt."

I laughed. "Well, since we're on our way up there now, I don't suppose you'd like to come?"

"I can't," he replied. "I would actually love to hang out with you guys some more, but I've gotta get home and help my mother finish unpacking. It'll have to be tomorrow."

Scott nodded. "That's cool. It was great meeting you."

"You too," Brendan replied, and he turned to me. "Catch you tomorrow?"

"I'll be here," I replied.

Brendan grinned. "Awesome," and with a final wave, Brendan turned and wandered away.

Aaron looked over to me, as the five of us turned and left the empty sixth grade classroom. "He seems pretty cool," he said.

I nodded. "Yeah, he's great. And really funny too," I said. "Class isn't such a scary place anymore, you know? I'm too busy laughing most of the time," but all of a sudden, our communicators all chimed. Everyone automatically looked around to check we were alone, but it was about three thirty and the school had a tendency of emptying as quickly after three as possible.

I raised my communicator. "We're all here, go ahead."

"Peter," crackled Zordon's voice. "Alpha and I have just picked up an energy signal in the old abandoned rock quarry that looks to be the Doolagahl creature. We've already contacted Jason and the Senior Team, so if you could morph and meet up with them as soon as possible?"

"Not a problem," I replied. "We'll suit up and head out there."

"Excellent. I'll inform the Senior Rangers that you're on your way," and with that, the communicator fell silent.

Sarah glanced around the group. "Everybody set for round two?"

Scott shook his head. "I still haven't recovered from round one."

"Still beats homework though," said Aaron.

I nodded. "Can't argue there. C'mon guys," and we all reached for our back pockets. "It's morphin' time!"

"Parasaurolophus!"

"Rhamphorynchus!"

"Brontosaurus!"

"Velociraptor!"

"Stegosaurus!"

* * *

Caloundra's old rock quarry, affectionately called 'monster central' by the locals and officially listed as that on several tourist guides, lay west of the city connected to the highway by an overgrown dirt track. The countryside flashed under the five of us as we teleported to the scene, and finding the Seniors already waiting for us by the quarry entrance, we summoned our weapons and moved slowly down into the area, on the lookout for any signs of danger.

"So," I said to Jason, as we steadily moved towards the rock wall facing us, "this is a trap to lure us out, right?"

Jason smiled beneath his visor. "It couldn't be anything but," he replied. "Nicely picked."

I looked over to the Red Ranger. "I don't suppose you've got a plan to beat this thing yet?"

He shook his head. "Still working on it," and he turned to the rest of the team. "Keep your eyes open guys, he's around here somewhere."

On the other side of the Red Ranger, Zac nodded, about to point out how difficult it would be to miss a seven-foot pile of red fur when he glanced up to the top of the cliff and suddenly caught sight of the Doolagahl, standing by the edge of the rock wall and casting a long shadow down over the team.

"Heads up guys!" he cried. "Bad guy, twelve o'clock!"

Everybody instantly spun around, looking up and catching sight of the monster as he took a step towards the edge of the cliff.

"I have looked forward to this," the monster said, his deep voice booming down over us. And with that, he stepped off the edge of the cliff - sailing down to the ground, the Doolagahl landed with a crash that shook the quarry, the sound echoing off the walls of rock, before calmly continuing towards us, as if nothing had interrupted his stroll. "I underestimated you earlier," he growled, "but that will not happen again."

"You can do what you like," said Tommy. "But we _did_ force you to back off this morning and we might just be able to beat you."

Aaron nodded. "Like you said, different battle. We know what we're up against this time."

The Doolagahl's lips curled into an evil predatory grin. "I know. That's why I brought a friend."

Without warning, lightning flashed down a few feet away from the beast, and as the smoke cloud cleared, there was suddenly a second figure standing in the quarry facing us down.

"Great," Tommy muttered. "Another one."

Kim nodded. "And it's even uglier."

The second monster looked to be nothing more than a serpent given human form. Almost as tall as the Doolagahl, the beast was covered in shiny copper scales with a pale yellow underbelly, while its three-clawed hands and two-toed feet all ended in sharp yellow claws. The monster glared at the team through narrow serpentine eyes under a smooth scalp, and the creature's forked tongue flashed between jagged yellow fangs. The creature stepped towards us, his movements jerky and sharp, and turning his head slowly to taste the air, he darted back to the side of the Doolagahl.

The snake turned back to the line of Rangers. "Thessse are our opponentsss?" it hissed.

The Doolagahl nodded. "Believe me, they're not much."

The snake grinned a horrible smile, and the gleam in his eyes reminded me exactly what it felt like to be a small defenseless woodland creature. "Then I will enjoy finding out." The beast hissed and charged towards the team, rapidly covering the distance between us.

The five of us turned and ran over to where the snake creature was approaching the Senior Team, only to come to a halt as the Doolagahl lightly dropped down in front of us. Summoning his Power Staff with a thought, Scott swung the staff high, but the beast wrapped his fist around the weapon, catching the other end when Scott swung again. The beast knocked the weapon aside and sent Scott flying with a low kick, throwing the staff away behind him. The beast turned as Teresa summoned her Power Whip, reached out and grabbed the White Ranger's wrist, the trailing end of the whip falling behind her. Teresa immediately struck out with her left fist, but the beast ducked under a high punch, dodged around a judo chop and blocked a chest-high swipe, before twisting her arm and throwing her away. Behind them, Sarah raised her mace and charged - the beast spun around and raised his arm, flooring the Purple Ranger with a blow to the neck.

The Doolagahl stepped towards Sarah when I dropped down between them, immediately slashing my sword for the beast. The Doolagahl ducked back out of danger as I continued forward, slashing my blade through the air after him. I raised the sword for a wide diagonal slash, but the beast spun around and caught my arm, before lifting me off the ground and throwing me away. Even as I crashed to the ground, Aaron charged forward and threw all his strength into a single right hook - the Doolagahl caught his fist without flinching, catching his other fist when the Aqua Ranger swung again. Something inside his glove made an unhealthy 'crack' noise, and Aaron grunted in pain as the Doolagahl steadily forced him down to his knees before grinning triumphantly and sweeping him away.

Across the quarry, the Senior Team was having no more success with their adversary. The snake creature had shot towards them like a brown bolt of lightning, slashing out the Rangers as he approached. Billy, the closest Ranger, ducked under the beast's claws and swung high with his lance, but the snake dodged the weapon, ducking low and circling the Blue Ranger. Billy turned to follow after him but the snake was too fast, coming back around and carving his claws up across the Blue Ranger's chest, sending his opponent crashing in a cloud of sparks. The beast spun around as Kimberly dropped down before him, and ducked back out of danger as she slashed with her bow. Following after the creature, Kim leaped up and kicked forward, but the snake spun around to the side and lashed out at her as she landed - Kim blocked a high swipe, jumped over the beast's tail and aimed a judo chop to the creature's stomach, but the beast caught her wrist and struck her back with a high kick.

Turning to face the rest of the team, the beast came face-to-face with the Black Ranger, aiming the barrel of his axe towards the creature.

"So let's see how fast you really are," he said.

But the creature hissed in fury, its eyes narrowing. "Traitor!" it cried, and leaped towards him. Zac pulled the trigger but the beast was already in front of him. He swung his axe towards the creature, but the beast spun under the blade, caught his wrist and sent him stumbling backwards with a blow to the chest. Even as Zac fell, the three remaining Rangers closed in around the creature - moving almost too fast to follow, the snake dodged a slice from Jason's sword, blocked both of Trini's daggers and lashed out at Tommy's helmet, forcing the Green Ranger back. Jason slashed his blade for the creature while the beast's attention was on Tommy, but the snake spun around and blocked the blow, sending him crashing with a high kick before spinning backwards through the air and dropping Tommy with a heel to the chest. Finding its footing, the creature raced back towards Trini - the Yellow Ranger immediately somersaulted to safety as the creature raked his claws through the air where she'd been standing a second ago.

All eleven Rangers regrouped as the two monsters stood watching us back away.

"You know," said Zac, "maybe somebody should've told them that we're the good guys."

Teresa nodded, and glanced across to Jason and I. "Yeah, this isn't going so well," she said. "Any ideas?"

Across from us, the two monsters sneered. "Watch them cower in terror," said the Doolagahl. "To think, these are this city's great defenders."

The snake's lips curled back into an evil grin. "Yesss," it hissed. "Now I think it isss time to show them jussst who they're dealing with."

The Doolagahl nodded, and turned back to us. "Did you not wonder why you were lured to this particular place?" the beast sneered, before holding his arms wide and raising his voice. "Kwinkan, arise!"

Shadow fell across the quarry, and I glanced up as the sky suddenly turned dark. "Great," I said, tightening my grip on my sword. "What now?"

"You shouldn't have asked," said Sarah - on every side, whispy black shapes had begun to emerge from the rocks of the quarry, and the entire cliff face before us now looked to be almost alive, as the dark things flowed down across the rocks towards us, all fighting to free themselves from some ancient entanglement. The shapes seemed to be nothing but listless, formless shadows that rose around us, flowing into each other with the impression of solid mass but moving as if weightless, silent but for a soft malevolent murmur. It was as if we were surrounded by a steadily tightening circle of black, and as the team all backed together to form a tight defensive circle, the shadow creatures closed in.

"Well," said Aaron, glancing back to the group. "At least we know why the quarry was abandoned."

Watching the black circle of shadow encircle the team, the Doolagahl grinned wickedly. "Kwinkan," he cried, "tear them apart!"

Like nothing more than a tidal wave of shadow, the creatures surged towards us. On either side, I saw the Rangers disappear into the rolling black mass, and I raised my sword as two distinct shapes flowed free and roared towards me - I slashed my sword furiously through the air as they approached, but while the blade cleaved through one of the creatures, it did nothing. I felt a solid blow to my ribs and another to my shoulder, and I staggered back in a blaze of sparks. Still dazed, I spun to the side, slashing out at anything that moved, but while the blade carved through several - they were packed together so tightly I couldn't have missed - they ignored me, struck back and sent me to the ground. It was literally like trying to fight a shadow.

A few metres away, Teresa had charged her whip as the creatures surrounded her, and cracking the shimmering weapon back and forth, was able to at least keep the creatures a short distance away. Across from the White Ranger, Billy and Trini were slashing at anything that came within striking range, while Kim was launching volley after volley of arrows into the oncoming tide, but shapeless and immaterial, the shadows ignored the Rangers' weapons and continued to land very solid blows with every attack.

Fighting back to back, Jason and Zac soon found that actually fighting the creatures was impossible - the best they could manage was to dodge and avoid any incoming shadows. Zac leaped high over a shadowy swipe, sending a blast of energy into the mass of shadows and forcing them back. "You get the feeling we should've called in sick today?"

Jason nodded, dodging incoming shadows and dropping low as something dark swept over his head. "Wouldn't have been a bad idea," he grunted, swinging his Power Sword at opponent after opponent, all with little effect, and he was sent flying backwards in a shower of sparks. The Red Ranger rolled to his feet and raised his sword as the shadows swarmed around him. There had to be something, some way of fighting these things. Something to hit. He looked up to the two monsters in the distance, and nodded. If they were controlling this army, then that was a good place to start.

Jason turned, readying himself to leap past the shadows and attack the two monsters - when suddenly the shadows began pulling back. Like water running out of a basin, an unseen force pulled the tide of shadows away from the team, and the creatures had soon withdrawn beyond the Doolagahl and the snake creature and vanished back into the cliff face, leaving the quarry empty.

With the shadows gone, everybody regrouped, bruised and beaten but at least still in one piece.

Leaning on my sword, I glanced over to the Junior Team. "You guys okay?"

Teresa nodded. "Yeah," she replied, "but what was that about?

Panting from the battle, Aaron shrugged. "At least they're gone," he puffed. "Let's not ask why."

"For now at least," boomed the Doolagahl, as he and the snake creature approached.

Jason raised his sword. "You pulled back, which means you want something," he said. "No more games."

The snake creature smiled. "Clever," it hissed. "We are impressssed."

"Although we do not agree," the Doolagahl growled, "we have been told to spare you this afternoon, to show you the mercy your people never showed ours. You defend their city, and they will listen to you before they listen to us." He glanced over to his reptilian companion and continued. "By tomorrow morning, you tribe must be gone, the city emptied and the land returned to its rightful inhabitants."

"And if it isn't?" asked Tommy.

The Doolagahl grinned. "Then we will wipe this land clean ourselves. You have seen our power, so do not treat this as an empty threat. The choice is yours - but defy us and I promise you that we will _bury_ you." And with that, the two monsters turned to each other, and in a flash of lightning, vanished from the scene.

* * *

"The Kwinkan," boomed Zordon, once we'd all teleported back to the Command Centre to recover from our defeat, "an army of, essentially, sentient shadows. The Aboriginal peoples believed them to be the physical embodiment of evil, a manifestation of all man's crimes. They have no shape or form, and were said to hide within rocks awaiting prey."

"Which is why the Doolagahl lured us to the quarry," said Sarah.

"Neither shape nor form," repeated Jason, then looked up to Zordon. "In other words, badguys we can't actually fight?"

Zordon nodded. "The Kwinkan cannot be fought, at least not physically," he said. "This is very ancient, very powerful magic."

Tommy looked up to the sage. "But what about the snake? At least him we could fight." He paused. "Sort of."

"The creature is a Liru," Zordon replied. "In the Dreamtime, Australia belonged to the animal tribes, and the Liru were a race of poisonous snake warriors. One particular legend tells of a great battle fought at Uluru, where the Kuniya, the Rock Python people, were ambushed and attacked by the Liru. But according to the story, the Liru were defeated and retreated to the east."

Zac nodded. "I guess this one made it all the way to the coast."

Billy looked around. "But those are all just mythological tales, legends. There can't be any actual historical truth to them."

"Our opponents are drawing inspiration from them, legend or not," replied Zordon.

I glanced over to the Blue Ranger. "And even so, it's our only lead."

"So what now?" asked Kimberly softly. "We can't hand over the city, but if we don't they're gonna totally flatten us. Again. We've gotten stomped twice so far, and now we're up against badguys we can't even fight." Kim paused, running a hand through her hair. "So what can we do?"

Aaron shrugged. "Try to come up with something by the morning, right?"

"But we already have something," said Jason, and everybody turned to him. "The ultimatum. They gave us time, after completely wiping us out. If Rita was running this show, we wouldn't have made it out of that quarry. You guys heard what the Doolagahl said, they were under orders to hold back."

"My thoughts exactly," said Zordon. "We cannot rule out Rita's involvement, but there is another power at work here that has not yet revealed itself."

"So that's what we can use?" asked Trini.

Jason nodded. "If there is somebody else pulling the strings here, we just have to find them. Who knows? We might be able to talk with them, reason with them." He paused. "If worse comes to worse, we can hit them."

Scott glanced around the group, and turned to Zac. "But that's not all," he said, suddenly aware of his voice as everybody turned to him. "Remember how... the, uh..." He shook his head, and sank back against the control panel. "Never mind."

"Scott?" I asked.

He waved his hand, his gaze downcast. "Nothing. Just thinking aloud."

Standing beside her brother, Teresa's brow lowered, but she shook her head and looked up to Zordon. "Like Kim said, what now? There's gotta be something we can do, even up against an army of shadows."

"For the moment," Zordon began, "the only thing you can do is return home, get some rest and recover from the battle today. We will print out all the information we have on the Doolagahl, the Liru and the Kwinkan, and Alpha and I will continue to search through the archives. Rest assured Rangers, a solution will present itself."

"Last minute miracle kind of thing?" sighed Tommy, as Alpha began handing print-outs to everyone.

Zordon smiled and continued. "Take heart Rangers. This situation looks dire, but times such as these are rarely as bleak as they appear. Do not give up hope."

Trini nodded. "Thanks Zordon," she said.

Jason nodded. "C'mon guys, let's head home," and we all reached down for our communicators, lightly tapped the top button and disappeared in eleven bright flashes of light, leaving Zordon and Alpha alone in the Central Chamber. But a second after we'd disappeared, Zordon looked down to Alpha.

"Alpha," he began, "I believe the time has come. The Rangers see this as our darkest hour, so some much-needed light would be appreciated."

"But, ayeyiyi Zordon..."

The sage shook his head. "I understand your reservations Alpha, but we no longer have a choice. The Kwinkan pose a unique problem, but we already have the solution. Alpha, if you could go and get the _twelfth_ Power Coin." Zordon paused, and nodded. "We have work to do."

* * *

"Okay," said Jason, brushing hair out of his eyes, "I see where you're going wrong. You need to keep your arm up more, and angle your sword more like this, see?" I nodded vaguely, glancing around the almost-empty Youth Centre, and Jason smiled. "Earth to Pete, I think I'm losin' ya."

Hearing my name I looked back to Jason, but glancing from his expression down to the sword he was holding, I realised I'd just missed something important. "Sorry," I said quickly. "I was just... sorry."

"That's cool," he said with a small smile, then nodded over to where our backpacks sat against the wall. "Let's take a break anyway."

We wandered over to the side of the room, turned to face the rest of the Youth Centre and sat down, Jason pulling a water bottle free of his backpack. Outside, the sky was still grey and overcast. The sun had made a valiant effort but looked to have given up, and the Youth Centre was dark, silent and empty - it was like the building had picked up on the despondent feelings of the people inside. Trini and Zac sat at one of the tables overlooking the training area and a couple of kids were over by the pinball machines, but apart from them the place was deserted.

I watched Ernie wiping down the Juice bar, and Jason turned to me. "You know, including the two of us, there's at least a dozen people trying to figure this out, right now."

I turned to him. "You really think we can beat this?"

"You think we can't?"

"But what if we can't?" I asked. "Okay we can't give up, but what happens if tomorrow gets here and we're still battin' zero? What do we do then?"

"Then we don't fall until we've tried absolutely everything," Jason nodded. "Up to and including strangling them with our bare hands if we have to."

I shook my head, and looked away. "How do you do it man? How do you always know what to do? I'm supposed to be the leader of the Junior Team, right? So far the only things I've done is watch the team get beaten and need to be rescued a lot."

"Hey, don't sweat it," Jason replied. "You guys have only been doing this for two weeks. I bluffed my way through a lot of our early victories as well. Get some wins under your belt and this'll all get easier, I promise. I mean, it took us all a while, but we eventually found our feet. You will too. Orange?" he asked, reaching into his bag.

"No thanks, I'm more of an apple fan," I replied. "I just don't know where I fit into the team, that's all."

Jason nodded. "Well, before I forget, I just wanted to say that was good work this morning, using the zords to scare away that flock of birds. That was really awesome."

"Thanks. It was more Aaron's idea than mine, we just didn't know what else to do." I paused, and smiled. "Brendan sure picked a great time to move to the coast."

"Is he the new kid in your class?" Jason asked. "I heard Teresa and Scott talking about him before."

I nodded. "Yeah, he's really cool. He said he learnt martial arts from watching old kung-fu movies."

Jason laughed. "I love those old films," he smiled. "It's a little unorthodox, but I guess if it works it works. You'll have to introduce him to the group."

Across the Youth Centre, Ernie rounded the counter with a tray of drinks, heading for Zac and Trini.

"Geez," he said, sliding the tray onto the table. "You guys are all down today."

"We've just got a lot to think about," said Zac. "Thanks dude."

"No prob," Ernie smiled. "You want anything else, gimme a yell," and he turned and went back to the counter.

Zac glanced down to the history books in front of him. "Man," he said, shaking his head. "I'm so freaked out about everything else I must've done three hundred words of my history assignment without even thinking about it."

Trini smiled. "At least that's something we're making headway with."

"For all the good it'll do," Zac replied, throwing the book aside. "I know what they're all expecting."

"But does that really matter?" Trini asked. "This history essay isn't about what everyone else wants you to write, this is about _your_ perspectives and what _you_ want to say. You don't have to be someone else for anybody, Zac." She paused. "We like you too much the way you are."

Zac grinned, looking away. "Thanks."

"Well, you know, it's what I'm here for," she replied with a smile.

"Hey guys," said Jason, as the two of us made our way up from the training area and joined them around the table. "Any progress?"

"Well, not really," said Zac, "but for what it's worth I've finally got an angle for my history assignment."

Jason nodded. "That's something," he said. "So all we've got to do _now_ is figure out how to save the city from something we don't know and badguys we can't physically fight, all by tomorrow morning."

"Not to mention," I added, "figure out who's behind all this anyway."

Trini nodded, and glanced to her watch. "We've still got about twelve hours guys, we shouldn't give up yet."

Across the table, Zac glanced down to his history textbook, thinking about the team's two earlier battles, when all of a sudden something went click in the back of his mind, a memory long-since shelved suddenly resurfacing. Quickly shoving his books into his backpack, the Black Ranger pushed back his chair and stood up.

"Hey, I just remembered something," he said. "I'm not sure if it'll be any help, but I gotta go track somebody down. I'll catch you guys later."

Jason nodded. "Good luck," he said, and Zac jogged away and left the Youth Centre.

* * *

"Grandpa?" asked Zac, knocking lightly on the door and listening for any sounds from within. His grandmother had said to just go straight in, but Grandpa Taylor's study had always been seriously off-limits when Zac and his cousins had been growing up, and even now he just couldn't bring himself to do it.

"Zachary?" came the reply from the other side of the door. "Zachary, is that you? Come in."

Zac smiled, and pushed the door open to see Grandpa Taylor sitting in the corner by the window, his white smile flashing out of the shadows. "Hey Grandpa," he said.

"It's wonderful to see you Zachary," the elder Taylor smiled, then added in a quiet voice. "I'm glad you made it past your grandmother."

Zac sat down on a footstool beside his grandfather's chair and grinned. "She made me promise to bring my folks around for breakfast before she let me in the door."

Grandpa Taylor chuckled. "That's my Doris," he replied. "So what brings you here on this grey and miserable night?"

Zac leaned forward. "I realise I don't see you often, but I need to ask for your help on something."

"Oh, well, I'd be happy to help if I could. What did you need?"

"You remember how you took us all camping, years back when I was like seven or eight?" His grandfather glanced out the window for a second, then nodded and turned back. "Well, remember how we all sat around the campfire that night, me and Curtis and all the other kids, and you told us all those stories about the Dreamtime? I was wondering if I could hear them again, if that was okay."

Grandpa Taylor sat back, smiling. "Certainly. But aren't you a bit old for those stories now? By this stage normally you'd be the one telling them."

Zac shook his head. "I always figured those stories were important, I just never realised how important until a couple of hours ago. Do you remember them all?"

His grandfather leaned forward, something flashing in his eyes. "Some things, Zachary, are such a part of us that they do not need to be kept in our memory." Grandpa Taylor sat back and glanced around the room. "We'll have to make do with hot chocolate instead of a campfire, but I think we'll get by. Is there anything in particular you wanted to hear?"

Zac nodded. "Yeah," he began, "as a matter of fact, there is."


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Teresa and Scott were just crossing the yard when I stepped out of the front door with my backpack slung over my shoulder.

"Morning guys," I called. "Heading to the Youth Centre?"

Teresa nodded. "We said we'd meet the Seniors there."

Once I'd reached them, we turned and continued walking up the hill and over towards the Youth Centre. Around us, it was a beautiful April morning - the plants were still dripping from last night's rain, and the sun was hanging just above the horizon in a cloudless sky.

I shook my head. "It's the wrong kind of morning," I said.

"I know what you mean," said Scott. "A fire engine went past really early this morning and I must've jumped about ten feet."

"At least the city's still standing," I shrugged. "I mean, we've still got some time. I hardly slept at all last night though."

Teresa turned to me. "I just hope the Seniors have come up with something."

"They have to have," I nodded. "We're not gonna lose our third ever fight, are we? Hey, did you guys have trouble contacting the Command Centre before?"

Teresa nodded. "We tried calling this morning and got nothing but static."

"Yeah, and we couldn't teleport there either," said Scott. "I guess Zordon and Alpha are trying something and had to shut a few systems down."

"That's what I figured too," I replied. "We'll have to ask Billy about it when we see him."

The three of us reached the top of the hill, the rest of Currimundi lying spread out beneath us, the coastline and school down to the left and the Youth Centre a few blocks over on the right. Crossing the road, we continued down towards the Youth Centre, Teresa turning to her brother as we walked.

"Speaking of the Command Centre," she began, "I saw you yesterday afternoon, when you went to say something. Why didn't you speak up?"

Scott shrugged. "I don't know, I guess I just didn't want to say the wrong thing in front of everyone, you know?"

Teresa smiled. "What, was everyone going to laugh? Scott, we're your friends. The reason we have these coins is that we're supposed to stand up and make a fuss." Scott smiled, and the White Ranger continued. "What were you going to say anyway? I hope you at least trust Peter and I," she added with a grin.

Scott nodded, and looking up, came to a stop. A few metres ahead, a large noticeboard stood between two flowerbeds by the side of the road, holding a sheet of white paper clipped up behind a protective layer of clear perspex.

"Just an idea," he said softly, his gaze fixed on the noticeboard, wheels beginning to turn behind his eyes.

Teresa and I both stopped and turned to see what had caught his attention. "What is that?" asked Teresa.

"One of those 'you are here' maps of the Sunshine Coast," I said, turning to her. "City council put them up about a month back, some sort of tourism thing I think."

But Scott wasn't listening, and taking a step towards the map, smiled. "Just an idea," he repeated, walking up to the noticeboard and pushing the perspex aside.

"Uh, Scott?" I asked, as he dismantled the board and pulled the map free. "I don't think you're allowed to, uh..."

The Blue Ranger turned back to us. "The Senior Team, they're all at the Youth Centre, right?"

"Well, yeah," Teresa nodded.

Scott grinned. "Awesome. C'mon," and he turned and sprinted away from us.

We stood watching him go for a few seconds, and Teresa turned to me. "When I'm good," she said, "I'm _good_," and we both raced down after Scott.

* * *

We reached the Youth Centre at full speed, and racing into the building, we didn't slow down until we reached the training area and turned up towards the Juice Bar. The building was about as empty as it had been last night, and Jason, Kim, Zac and Billy were the only people near the bar. All four of them turned to look as we jogged the remaining distance, pulling up three chairs and breathlessly collapsing into them.

Jason turned to me. "What's wrong?" he asked.

I shook my head. "We ran... all the way... from my place..."

"Geez," he smiled. "Give a guy a scare," and he passed me his fruit shake.

I nodded a 'thank you' and gulped down half the cup. "Scott had an idea..."

"More than an idea," Scott said, and everyone turned to him. Suddenly the focus of the group, Scott shrank back, but beside him, Teresa gently pushed him forward. Scott turned back to the group and tapped the table. "Can I, uh...?"

Billy nodded. "Affirmative," he replied, and once the two Blue Rangers had cleared a space, Scott put the map on the table and rolled it open.

"Way more than an idea," he continued. "Something Zordon said yesterday really stuck in my mind. Remember he told us that every part of Aboriginal mythology is tied to the land? So I figured, whatever's going on here has to fit the same rule."

Billy nodded. "Short of a workable theory, it sounds likely."

"Peter, you got any coloured pencils?" Scott asked. I nodded, and reached into my backpack, handing him the bundle of coloured Crayolas I kept within. "Thanks," he replied, and taking the light blue pencil, he looked back down to the map. "There has to be a pattern, right? Now the entire coastline has been off-limits because of the sharks and really bad surf," and he shaded the pencil right down the waterline on the map. "And the flock of animals yesterday all came from the northwest," and he drew a wide diagonal line to the north of the city.

Jason nodded, automatically reaching for the red pencil. "Okay, I see what you mean," he said. "I fought the Three here in the plaza, and we took on the Doolagahl yesterday here in the park..."

"Billy," began Kimberly, turning to him, "remember what you said about those three farms?" The Blue Ranger nodded, and reached for the navy pencil.

I decided I couldn't ignore fate, and reached for the orange. "So, pretty much anything weird that's happened in the city in the last week?"

Scott nodded, turning to me. "Yeah, exactly," he replied, and for a few minutes, we all continued shading in areas of the map. Finally, seven pencils and a pile of pencil shavings later, everybody sat back, out of ideas. The map of the coast was now a bright patchwork of lines, scribbles and shaded areas - and all the areas together seemed to form a large triangle that covered the city, with its base along the coastline and pointing to the west.

Teresa glanced down the left-hand side of the map. "From the looks of it, "she said, "everything points west to the Glass House Mountains," and she tapped the apex of the triangle. "Straight to Mount Tibrogargan."

There was a second of silence. "Guys," began Kimberly, turning to Zac and I, "what are the stories about the Glass House Mountains?"

"Well, the Aboriginal myth says that the Glass House Mountains are a family of sleeping giants," I replied. "Tibrogargan is the father, and Beerwah is the mother. She's pregnant, and that's why she's the largest of the entire mountain range."

Zac nodded. "So the story goes, during the Dreamtime the family escaped the rising ocean by heading west. Tibrogargan told his eldest son Coonowrin to help Beerwah, but Coonowrin didn't realise she was carrying a baby and left her to fend for herself. Tibrogargan helped Beerwah to safety but was so angry with Coonowrin that he struck his son on the top of the head with his club."

"Which is why the top of Mount Coonowrin is shaped the way it is," nodded Jason.

"Exactly."

Scott looked around the group. "Okay, so just how badly have we underestimated this?" he asked quietly. "We thought Rita was just messing around with Aboriginal mythology, but she actually woke up a _mountain_ and set him loose on the city."

"That is a pretty scary thought," I said.

Kim nodded. "I'm not looking forward to going three rounds with a mountain, that's for sure."

"But we're not suggesting those tales are anything other than fanciful explanations of natural phenomena?" Billy asked, glancing around the table. "The Glass House Mountains are nothing more that alkali rhyolite, the cores of prehistoric volcanoes that eroded away over millions of years."

"But it makes a lot of sense," I said. "What if there _are_ powerful Aboriginal spirits grounded to these mountains?"

Teresa nodded. "Imagine waking up after sleeping for thousands of years, and finding that the world you knew is gone and Rita is whispering things in your ear. That'd be enough to freak anybody out."

"It's more than that though guys," said Kim, turning to Zac, "way more. Remember yesterday when the Liru called you 'traitor', and how the Doolathingy just wouldn't attack you? And remember what they said, about wanting the land returned to its rightful owners?"

Jason nodded, understanding what Kimberly was saying. "You're right," he said, looking back to the rest of us. "Think about it. Okay, so you're Tibrogargan. You've just woken up to find no trace of the Aboriginal tribes who used to live nearby, and somebody else occupying their land. What other conclusion would Tibrogargan come to? That's what he's doing, he's trying to avenge all the Aboriginal tribes that used to live here." He looked to Zac. "But when he saw you fighting with us, it totally threw him."

The Black Ranger nodded. "About time this all started making sense."

"Tibrogargan will probably listen to you before he listens to any of us," Jason said. "You might be able to get through to him, change his mind."

Scott nodded. "Who knows, maybe we can make him come to his senses or something. We just have to find him."

I smiled. "It's gonna be hard to miss him, being a mountain and all."

Jason turned to Scott, Teresa and I. "I take it you guys had trouble contacting the Command Centre this morning?" We nodded, and he continued. "Normally I'd say we need to tell Zordon where we're heading, but we have a deadline and this can't wait. Call the others - we need to get out there _now_."

* * *

The team materialised in the field facing Mount Tibrogargan in eleven multi-coloured flashes of light. Teleporting in we'd seen that the area was deserted - a couple of farmhouses sat a few kilometres away while the railway line connecting the Sunshine Coast to Brisbane passed by a few hundred metres behind us. Straight ahead, though, its pointed peak towering high above us, was Mount Tibrogargan.

"Wow," I breathed, "I've never been so close before."

Beside me, Aaron nodded. "Yeah, it's massive," he said. "You see the face?"

I glanced up, and nodded. Just under the triangular peak of the mountain was an enormous sheer cliff-face, at least as wide as a football field and scarred from long exposure to wind and rain. Side-by-side at the top of the cliff-face were two sunken hollows, huge pockets in the side of the mountain that gave the uncanny impression of the eye sockets of a skull. Underneath them, a smaller hollow in the grey and black granite could've been the skull's nose, while a thin horizontal scar across the cliff formed the mouth. Beneath that, overhanging plants fell to the foothills and treeline, giving the mountain a long mossy beard.

"I guess that's where the legend started," said Trini.

Zac nodded. "He's forever looking away from his son Coonowrin, who he's still pretty miffed at," he said, then looked to Jason. "So what's the plan?"

"Well it's his mountain," Jason replied. "Tibrogargan has to be around here somewhere. All we gotta do is find him and try to..."

"Too late for that," boomed a voice that froze everyone in their tracks. It was like Zordon was speaking down to us - the voice was deep, ancient and seemed to hum with power, resonating right through to the back of our heads. But the voice also left an unmistakable impression of cool, solid rock. "You found him."

We all looked around for the speaker, and Tommy looked up. "Hey guys, check it out."

Everyone looked up to the skull on the side of the mountain. For a second, I wondered what Tommy had meant, but the longer I looked at it, the more the markings in the rock began to look like an actual face. And before any of us had realised it, two eyes were staring down at us angrily from the side of the cliff.

Tibrogargan opened his mouth to speak, revealing inky blackness behind. "Whatever lies you wish to speak, keep them," the mountain rumbled. "Your deceit will find no purchase here."

I turned to Scott and shook my head. Scott was right, we'd figured correctly - but standing in front of a mountain that was both alive and angry was terrifying, and I felt my heart pounding in my chest.

Jason stepped forward, raising his voice. "Look, we don't want to fight you, we're not the badguys here."

Tommy nodded. "You've got this all wrong. The people in the city down there are completely innocent."

The mountain sneered. "She said you would use those words to deceive me, and I am neither impressed nor amused."

"She?" repeated Trini. "So you've been talking to a woman, or girl...?"

Tibrogargan seemed to nod, the entire mountain shaking and rubble raining down over the cliff-face. "The last of my people, the only survivor of the white plague."

"But it's all a scam!" said Sarah. "She's the one who's been lying to you, using you."

"Enough!" thundered the mountain, his voice deafening. "I will tolerate your trespass no longer! You eleven are the only things standing between me and reclaiming the land of my people, and when things are in my way, _I move them_."

Even as the mountain spoke, clouds began to swirl in the sky high above, and as shadow fell across the field, the Doolagahl and Liru suddenly appeared in front of us. Then came a whisper of wind and a soft murmur, and suddenly the Kwinkan had returned, the formless shadows sweeping down from the mountain towards us.

"Okay, we don't have a choice any more," said Jason, reaching for his back pocket. "Guys, c'mon. It's morphin' time!"

"Parasaurolophus!"

"Rhamphorynchus!"

"Brontosaurus!"

"Velociraptor!"

"Stegosaurus!"

"Dragonzord!"

"Mastodon!"

"Pterodactyl!"

"Triceratops!"

"Sabre-Toothed Tiger!"

"Tyrannosaurus!"

With a final flash of light, we were all fully morphed and ready for battle. As one, we summoned our Power Weapons with a thought, Aaron and Zac taking aim, Kimberly drawing her bow and Jason and I raising our blades.

Scott tightened his grip around his Power Staff and glanced along the creeping line of Kwinkan. "So, ready to get our butts kicked again?"

Jason turned to him. "We can take them," he said, "if we..." but glancing up, his voice trailed off, and he took a step back in surprise. "What the...?"

Without warning, a thin stream of light suddenly shot down over our heads, spinning through the air and blazing straight into the ranks of the Kwinkan. The effect of the ribbon of light was instant and catastrophic - every shadow it passed through exploded in sparks and vanished in a puff of smoke as the beam continued to lay waste to the army. So bright it was almost painful to watch, the ribbon of light was joined by a second beam that arced down over us. Spinning around each other, the two streams shot back through the army, whipping through the ranks of shadows with devastating effect. The quiet murmur of the Kwinkan steadily turned into a roar of terror and panic, as the shadows desperately fought to escape the beams of light.

Finally, the two streams of light turned and vanished back over us. Jason glanced back to the rest of the team. "Heck of a magic trick, guys..."

I shrugged. "Wasn't us," I said.

Scott nodded. "Yeah, it was him."

In a blaze of light, _another Ranger_ was suddenly standing a few feet in front of us facing the Kwinkan. His suit was silver, with a white diamond on his chest, white gloves and boots, and a silver blaster hanging by his side, his silver helmet mostly resembling Tommy's. Frozen in shock, the eleven of us could only watch in silence as the twelfth Ranger stood sizing up the army for a few seconds more, before charging towards them.

The Kwinkan edged forward cautiously, but the Ranger waved his arm and another beam of light suddenly shot from the shimmering white diamond on his chest, scorching through the air and immediately wiping out a huge crowd of the shadows. The creatures roared and surged in from the side - the Ranger simply turned his head, and a ribbon of light shot through the tide, the entire rolling mass of shadow vanishing in a cloud of sparks. The beams continued to wreak havoc among the ranks as the Kwinkan desperately tried to flee them, and stepping forward, the Ranger raised his arms - the beams vanished as a pulse of white light shot forth from the Ranger, instantly clearing a huge gap in the army. But with the angry mountain still behind them, the remaining shadows had no choice but to surge back towards us.

"The hard way, then?" said the Ranger, in a strangely familiar voice. "Works for me. Power Sai!" and two shining silver sai materialised in his hands.

Even as the Kwinkan rapidly closed in, the Silver Ranger attacked, leaping forward with a high kick. To everyone's surprise, the blow actually connected, a black form flying backwards and disappearing into the ranks as the Ranger dropped to the ground. Several shapes swarmed in from the side - striking out with his sai, the Ranger cleaved through the shadows in a shower of sparks, leaping sideways to avoid an attack from the front and sending the attacking shadow flying with a spinning kick. Finding his footing, he sent an opponent reeling with a left backhand, and dodging incoming shadows, sent several more crashing with his sai. Ducking under a chest-high swipe, he struck the shadow back with a high kick, before sending forth another beam of light and flattening an entire line of shadows.

By now, we could watch no longer, and the eleven of us raced forward as the remaining Kwinkan retreated backwards, their number now significantly less.

"Listen," I said as we reached him, "I don't know who you are, but thanks for your help. That was incredible."

The Ranger turned to me, tilting this head. "Peter? Wow, so it is you..."

I stepped back in shock, suddenly realising why I recognised his voice. "_Brendan_?"

The other Rangers turned to each other, and Brendan nodded. "That's me," he replied. "Don't worry, Zordon explained everything this morning, about your powers, the zords, the Senior Team and what's been going on the last couple of days."

Sarah laughed. "You're our Sixth Ranger?" she asked. "Wow, that's awesome!"

Jason smiled. "So you got the twelfth Power Coin?"

Brendan nodded. "I was on my way to school when Zordon teleported me straight into the Command Centre," he said. "Heck of a way to wake up, let me tell you. And for the record, if we make it through this, I owe Mr Cheng's Video Rental a huge debt of gratitude."

I smiled. "What dinosaur did you get?

"The Dilophosaurus," Brendan replied, tapping his Power Coin.

"Two-ridged lizard," I nodded. "For the two ridges of bone on its head."

Brendan laughed. "Junior science, huh?"

I smiled. "Amateur palaeontology."

Across the field from us, watching from his vantage point, Tibrogargan's eyes began flashing with fury, and he glared from the few remaining Kwinkan to the two monsters.

"You fools!" he thundered, his voice echoing across the countryside. "Crush them!"

We all spun back to our adversaries and raised our weapons. The army of Kwinkan parted, and the Doolagahl and Liru stepped through towards us, the Liru hissing, the Doolagahl raising its enormous fists and the army of shadows again slowly closing in.

"You up for this?" asked Zac, looking at Brendan.

Brendan nodded. "You guys take the ape and the snake," he said, and grinned beneath his visor. "The army's all mine."

Jason smiled. "C'mon guys, let's show 'em what twelve Rangers can do."

"Right!"

Brendan immediately charged away towards the army of shadows, while the rest of us split up as the Doolagahl and Liru approached and stepped away from each other to approach the team from either side.

The Doolagahl slowly approached Zac, Tommy and Jason, grinning wickedly. "In our last two battles you could barely lay a finger on me," the beast growled, "and this time I will enjoy tearing you apart."

Zac stepped forward. "Maybe, maybe not," the Black Ranger replied. "You see, last night I did a bit of research. And I realised for the first time just how amazing the Aboriginal people of Australia really were. Not only did they learn to survive in some of the harshest terrain on the planet, they created a cultural history, not of lands conquered or monuments of stone, but of stories. Some of those stories are older than the pyramids, older than anything else on Earth, even older than these Power Coins, and _that_'s amazing." He paused, and grinned beneath his visor. "And they even figured out how to beat you. Aaron, **now**!"

Across the field the Aqua Ranger nodded, raising his blasters and firing, carving our two parallel channels in the dirt on either side of the Doolagahl, the high grass immediately catching fire. Changing his aim, Aaron fired again, and the Doolagahl was soon totally boxed in by walls of fire on three sides and Power Rangers on the other.

"You see," continued Zac casually, as the Doolagahl glanced back and forth in alarm to the walls of fire suddenly surrounding him, "the peoples of Australia had a ceremony they performed to keep your kind away - a sacred dance followed by burning off the underground around camp. As it turns out, you got a thing about fire." The beast looked back to Zac, his expression one of absolute fury, and Zac smiled. "So, wanna dance?"

Tommy suddenly somersaulted over the Black Ranger, rolling to his feet and unsheathing his Dragon Dagger in one smooth motion. Bringing the dagger to his helmet, a familiar six-chimed tone soon rang out. Thundering towards the Green Ranger, the Doolagahl raised its fist and swung with all his might for Tommy's chest - only to bounce back harmlessly in a shower of sparks. Tommy continued forward, still playing the flute, and roaring in anger, the Doolagahl swung again, raining down punch after punch - the blows fell like battleships colliding, and still Tommy kept moving forward. The Doolagahl stepped back in confusion, and Tommy took the opportunity to attack, slashing out with his dagger and forcing the monster back. With the Doolagahl retreating, Zac raced forward to join Tommy, and a side-by-side double kick sent the beast crashing.

Stumbling back, the Doolagahl found himself far too close to the fire. Scrambling back into the centre of the field, Jason and I leaped down in front of the beast, slashing our blades through the air. The Doolagahl ducked the blades and backed away, but moving in unison, Jason and I swung forward, slashing high then bringing the blades back down in a clean diagonal slice. The beast inched back, keeping one eye on the flames, and dodging the blades he retaliated, sending a left backhand at me and directing a low kick at Jason's stomach. I ducked around the blow while Jason kicked back and struck the beast's foot away - stepping forward, the beast swung at Jason's head, but I struck away his fist with the hilt of my sword before a right roundhouse punch sent him crashing.

Jason nodded. "Thanks," and we charged after the Doolagahl to continue the battle.

Across the field, the Liru had darted towards a group of the remaining Rangers - Teresa, Kimberly, Scott, Billy and Sarah - when the fires suddenly sprang up around the Doolagahl a few metres away.

"Interesssting," the creature hissed, its narrow eyes focussing on the Rangers, "it appearsss you learned of the Doolagahl'sss weaknessss. Sssuch a pity that will not help againssst me."

"Maybe not fire," said Sarah. "But we read up on our Aboriginal history today, and as it turns out you've got a few weaknesses too. You were beaten, a long time ago by the Rock Python people."

The snake turned from the Purple Ranger to the two Blue Rangers on either side, hissed angrily and charged, rapidly covering the distance between them - only to come to a screeching halt as Billy suddenly raised his lance, the Liru centimetres away from impaling itself.

"They realised you were just too dangerous to fight up close," continued Sarah. "So they fought you with their spears and throwing sticks. They figured out your weak-point and sent you slimy creeps running." She paused. "Three guesses what's about to happen."

Slashing with his lance, Billy sliced the blade at the end of the weapon towards the Liru. The beast ducked under the blade, dodged to the side and raised his arms to catch the weapon, when Scott suddenly swung with the end of _his_ staff, batting the creature's arm aside and landing a solid blow to the creature's gut. The Liru staggered back but recovered and turned to attack - only to leap to safety as Kim shot a barrage of arrows, the field erupting in sparks and smoke. The creature rolled to safety and leaped to its feet, but the two Blue Rangers dropped down blocking its path, again striking out with their weapons and keeping the monster out of striking range. The beast knocked aside Scott's staff and raked its claws for Scott's chest, but Billy blocked the beast's arm and sent him crashing with a jump kick.

The Liru retreated back, his eyes darting around desperately for a way to attack, when Teresa somersaulted down in front of him, her whip materialising as she landed. Cracking the whip towards the beast's feet to keep it at a distance, she spun the whip around her and sent it arcing towards the beast's underbelly, the stinging blows forcing the creature back. The snake made a frantic grab for the trailing end of the weapon, but with a flick of her wrist, Teresa wrapped the whip around the beast's hands. With the Liru caught, she forced him forward and took to the air, catching the Liru with the tip of her boot and dropping to the ground. The beast staggered back, and Teresa pulled the whip free and glanced to her team-mates.

"Sarah, now!"

Raising her Power Mace, the Purple Ranger raced past Teresa and swung the weapon on an arc straight for the tip of the beast's snout - the blow connected and the Liru flew backwards with a howl of pain, crashing to the ground and rolling to a stop in a cloud of dust.

Sarah lowered her mace. "The one weak point of the Liru people," she said.

Beside her, Billy nodded. "Amazing how these legends always have a kernel of truth to them," he said, and smiled brightly. "Who knew?"

Having been forcibly thrown through the wall of fire, singing his red fur, the Doolagahl retreated away from the team and raced over to his scaly companion, shakily helping the Liru to its feet as everybody regrouped. There was not a single Kwinkan shadow creature in sight, and we all turned to Brendan in amazement - he must've wiped out the entire army one-by-one.

"Awesome work guys, we did it," said Jason, then turned to me. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

I nodded. "Right there with you," I said, and facing the defeated Liru and Doolagahl, we raised our swords into the air until the blades crossed high above us - for a second the two swords shone with power, before a massive energy blast exploded from the blades, spiralling across the field and slamming into the two monsters, instantly launching them backwards through the air in a massive explosion that lit up the field and echoed off the side of the mountain far away.

We lowered our swords triumphantly, and Brendan stepped up beside me, smiling beneath his visor. "Okay," he said, "now _that_ was awesome."

Zac looked up to the face of the mountain watching the scene, growing fury evident on his rocky features. "So we wiped out your army and beat your pets," he said. "Are you going to listen to reason now, or do we have to do all this again?"

"Very well," the mountain replied, his ancient voice thick with anger. The entire peak was trembling now, showers of stones cascading down the cliff-face. "Your brute strength has won the day. Let us see if you can battle _this_ as easily as your fought them." And although the mountain continued to shake, Tibrogargan's face vanished back into the grey rock, and seconds later we were looking at a blank cliff-face.

"What was that about?" asked Kimberly.

"I don't know about you guys," said Aaron. "But I'm guessing not good."

Sarah nodded. "Given we just wiped out his army, he's probably a little angry."

"So much for trying to reason with him," I said, as the shaking grew more violent and the ground beneath us began to shudder.

"Well you're right about one thing," came a scratchy voice, and we all turned to see Rita herself striding towards us with her wand raised, flanked on either side by Goldar and Scorpina. "Definitely not good."

"It was all you, wasn't it?" asked Jason, as Rita came to a stop over the defeated bodies of the Doolagahl and Liru. "You lied to him, tricked him."

Rita grinned. "I merely woke the old man out of his dream," she said. "Apart from giving him a push in the right direction, everything else was Tibrogargan's idea, and quite an inspired plan it was." She paused, her wand suddenly flashing. "And he'd hate to be disappointed now. Magic wand, make the monsters grow!"

A storm of lightning bolts struck down from the wand, dancing across the field, throwing up clouds of dust and striking the downed bodies of the two monsters. The ground began to shake even more violently, and then with a great roaring noise, the two monsters suddenly returned, standing fifteen storeys tall and towering over us. Everyone immediately jumped back.

"This is normal right?" asked Brendan, his words almost lost over the roar of the earthquake happening around us.

"Pretty much," replied Trini.

I nodded. "Although usually the ground has stopped shaking by now!" It was getting difficult to stay standing - it felt like the entire field was about to get up and leave us behind.

"Guys!" cried Kimberly suddenly. "The mountain! Look!"

Everyone on the field turned to look. The entire mountain was trembling, trees tumbling down from its highest peaks and showers of boulders cascading down the mountain's sides. Within a few seconds, great cracks had begun appearing in the foothills around the base of the mountain, the earth itself splitting apart and entire groves of trees disappearing in clouds of dust. The fissures began opening more frequently, barely visible now in the cloud of destruction...

...and then, in defiance of every possible law of physics _the entire mountain lifted itself up off the ground_, rising high into the air before moving away from us and heading straight for the city of Caloundra.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

Nobody moved, nobody spoke, nobody could even breath at the sight of millions of tonnes of solid granite moving through the air like a cloud soaring on a gentle breeze. Everyone suddenly fell into shadow as the mountain briefly passed in front of the sun, before continuing down towards the distant coast.

Jason took a step back in shock, totally at a loss. _He's gonna wipe out the entire city_. He turned to the rest of the team, his mind racing, and a desperate plan came together.

"Brendan, Zac!" he shouted. "Get up onto that mountain, find Tibrogargan and **stop him!"**

Brendan looked to the Black Ranger uncertainly, but Zac grabbed the younger Ranger's shoulder and the two raced away.

Jason turned to me. "Peter, form your Megazord and follow Tibrogargan into the city. If Brendan and Zac can't do it, you'll have to save Caloundra."

"But is the Megazord strong enough to hold up a mountain?" I asked.

Jason hoped the conviction in his voice would be enough. "It _has_ to be. Go!"

I nodded, and turned to the four other Junior Rangers. "C'mon guys," I said, "let's move!" And in that split-second, with everyone staring at me in helpless shock, for the first time I felt like the team's leader - coming up with an idea was easy, but making it work would be something else entirely. "We need dinozord power, now!"

Far to the west in an out-of-the-way place, the ground began to shake, and as the Earth split apart, our five dinozords rose to the surface in a blaze of fire and smoke, thundering across the countryside towards us. The orange Stegozord led the charge, shaking the ground with every titanic step, while the Velociraptor and Brontozord followed close behind. Behind them was the massive Parazord, its aqua armour shining in the morning sun, while the purple Rhamphorynchus zord cruised through the sky high above.

The zords reached the field and continued past us towards the city, and the five of us reached for our morphers and shot into the air as five streaks of energy. The zords flashed past beneath us, and we shot down towards them, materialising in our cockpits a few seconds later.

"Okay guys," I began, as I was pushed forward to the control panel, "let's bring 'em together!"

The Stegozord and Brontozord immediately transformed, their legs and tails folding against their bodies as they both slowed to connect with the Parazord, Aaron's zord immediately standing upright and continuing to pursue the mountain. A second later, the Velociraptor had leaped into the air and split in half, and as the Rhamphorynchus dropped down out of the sky, both zords combined with the Parazord. Now the Megazord had arms and a chest shield, the five of us were automatically teleported into the control room - with yellow eyes flashing under a three-tiered crownpiece, the Megazord was fully formed, continuing to power into the city and gaining ground on Tibrogargan with every step.

* * *

Even as the zords thundered towards them, Zac and Brendan raced down after the mountain.

Zac glanced up and across to the younger Ranger. "Can you teleport? Do you know how to?"

Brendan nodded. "I, uh, guess so. I think."

The Black Ranger nodded. "Then grab on," he replied, grabbing Brendan's arm and putting his gloved hand on his shoulder. With that, the Black Ranger reached for his communicator, and the two of them vanished in twin trails of light, one violet and one silver. The countryside flashed under them, and the two Rangers shot up and around the side of the mountain, materialising seconds later in a clearing at the very top of the peak. Behind them, a path between moss-covered boulders seemed to lead back down the mountain, while ahead, the clearing led to the long edge of a cliff, giving a wide vista of the coast.

"Wow," said Brendan, looking around. There was at least a few hundred feet between the base of the mountain and the ground far below, and standing at the very peak they could see for kilometres in all directions - directly to the east, the city of Caloundra was fast approaching.

"C'mon," said Zac, and the two Rangers jogged towards the cliff-edge, "we don't have a lot of time."

"Why the very peak?" asked Brendan.

The Black Ranger shrugged. "Where else?" he asked, then raised his hand and brought them to a stop.

Standing on the edge of the cliff at the end of the clearing was a human-shaped figure, his outline clearly visible against the morning sky. It couldn't have been anybody but Tibrogargan himself - six feet tall, Tibrogargan's body was composed entirely of rock that nonetheless seemed to be alive, streaked with veins of grey and black. Moss covered his head, and a long mossy beard flowed from the mountain's chin down to his stomach.

"What now?" asked Brendan.

Zac shrugged. "No clue," he whispered. "I gotta tell ya, I'm not so good at this whole leading thing."

"That's okay," Brendan replied. "This is not what I'd expected on my first day."

"With ya there," Zac nodded. What _could_ they do? "Why don't we give violence a shot and see where that gets us?"

"Can't hurt," nodded Brendan, and hesitating a second longer, the two Rangers charged across the clearing towards their opponent.

Hearing them approach, Tibrogargan turned and stepped back from the cliff-edge just as the Rangers attacked. Reaching the mountain giant, Zac kicked high while Brendan spun his sai and aimed low with the blunt handles of the weapons for the mountain's stomach. Both attacks found their target, but Tibrogargan barely blinked in annoyance - Zac dropped to the ground and threw all his strength into a roundhouse punch, while Brendan continued to pound the mountain's body with lightning-fast blows. Zac's fist bounced off Tibrogargan's chin, and moving with surprising speed for something appearing to weigh several tonnes, Tibrogargan caught Brendan's wrists with fingers of stone and threw the Junior Ranger away.

Tibrogargan watched the Rangers roll to their feet with an expression of idle annoyance. "Leave me," he rumbled.

By now the mountain was approaching the city limits, and an apartment building on the edge of town lost its television antennas as Mount Tibrogargan scraped past centimetres above. In the streets below, the approaching mountain was catching the attention of more and more people who were turning to watch in horror, evidenced by the growing number of cars and trucks ramming into each other and running off the road.

"Not a chance," Zac replied. "Brendan, take him!" The Black Ranger leaped forward, raising his Power Axe and carving the weapon through the air. The blade bounced off Tibrogargan's chest in a shower of sparks, but as Zac fell back, Brendan raced past him and slashed his sai across Tibrogargan's body, the blades leaving smoke and fire in their wake. Regaining his footing, Zac stepped forward and swung in a wide overarm arc, catching Tibrogargan's shoulder before swinging again - as the blade fell, Tibrogargan caught the weapon and struck the Black Ranger away with a blow to the chest, before swiping low for Brendan. Ducking back out of danger, Brendan spun around Tibrogargan's arm, but as he leaped forward to attack again, the Silver Ranger was launched off his feet as Tibrogargan casually swept him away.

Far beneath them, the entire city was watching in terrified shock as the mountain slowly moved over Caloundra's central business district. Thousands of citizens lined the streets frozen in terror, while still more turned and ran, trying desperately to get away from the city centre, the streets choked with hordes of screaming panicked people. As far above as they were, Brendan and Zac could still hear the chaos being uncorked down below, and as they recovered, Tibrogargan turned away from the two Rangers and crossed back to the edge of the cliff, staring down to the city with an expression the Rangers couldn't quite read.

"You can't do this," said Zac, "and we're going to stop you, whatever it takes."

The mountain giant looked back to them, his rocky brow lowering in confusion, half his attention still with the city below.

"When time was young, I was ancient," Tibrogargan said. It didn't sound like a boast or even a threat, merely a statement of simple fact. "I have stood witness to the fall of entire civilisations, yet you invade this mountain and believe you can sway me with naught but your fists?"

Zac raised his Power Axe. "Yeah, we're crazy like that," he replied, and glanced down to Brendan at his side. "Whatever it takes. Brendan, get ready, aim high this time..."

This seemed to freeze Tibrogargan. The mountain giant paused for a second and looked back to the Rangers. The fury in his voice so audible when he'd spoken earlier from the side of the mountain was now gone, replaced with genuine curiosity. "You would fight when you have not a single chance of victory. Why? Answer."

"Well we have to _do_ something," said Brendan. "There are thousands of people down there! You actually expect us to just stand here and do nothing?"

Tibrogargan looked back to the city. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the mountain shook his head. "No," Tibrogargan replied, "no, you are right. I would not."

Looking out towards the eastern horizon, the giant's eyes focused on a point far beyond the horizon, and neither of the Rangers could tell where he was looking nor what he was thinking. For the longest time, the three of them stood there, Brendan and Zac holding their breath in anticipation. Finally, the mountain spoke.

"You must forgive me, both of you," he said, his voice softer, and for the first time, Tibrogargan actually looked and sounded like a mountain. "I am old, and very tired. And I may have just made a grave error in judgement."

* * *

The Megazord continued following the mountain into the city, and as we caught up to Tibrogargan, there was a brief second when the Megazord fell into shadow and passed entirely under the mountain, and the five hearts beating rapidly in the control room all skipped a beat. All around us, screaming citizens were fleeing the city by foot or by vehicle, moving however they could. But still thousands more were fenced in by chaos on all sides.

"Scott," I began, "talk to me. Where do we need to be?"

The Blue Ranger pointed up to the underside of Mount Tibrogargan. "Right under the very centre of the mountain," he replied, "otherwise when it comes down we'll overbalance."

I nodded. "Not good, yeah. Anybody know how much this thing is gonna weigh?"

"Computer's working on it now," said Teresa, then paused. "Peter... I don't even know how to pronounce this many zeroes."

"Okay," I said. "Great. Every drop of juice in the Megazord I want converted to upper body strength, and we'll need to stabilise the zord's legs somehow as well."

"On it," nodded Aaron, furiously punching commands into the computer before him.

I looked back out across the panicked city. A school bus full of our classmates stood stuck in a traffic gridlock a few streets away, while the Megazord was just now passing a retirement village and the city's major hospital.

"C'mon Brendan and Zac," I said softly, looking back up to the mountain hanging over our heads. "Don't let us down now."

* * *

Standing a centimetre from the cliff, Tibrogargan waved his stony arm, and suddenly it was all gone. Every building, every road and park, every house and farm, and even the railways and power-lines - the entire Sunshine Coast had ceased to exist, replaced by nothing but hills, streams, bushland and eucalyptus forests. Zac and Brendan glanced to each other in disbelief and stepped forward, joining Tibrogargan by the edge of the cliff. But gazing down over the land, Zac could see large shapes moving through the trees, and realised what had happened

Brendan turned to Tibrogargan. "What did you do?" he asked.

"Chill dude," said Zac, putting his hand on Brendan's shoulder. "Look closer." The Black Ranger turned back to Tibrogargan, who was gazing down over the landscape. "This is how it used to be, right?"

Looking back down to the land beneath them, Brendan realised what Zac had meant - the coastline had changed, curving a different way around the natural headland that Caloundra occupied. The trees covering the land were tall and ancient, their grey gums wreathed in mist. Huge animals making their way through the forest were just visible through the forest roof - kangaroos as tall as houses and other giant marsupials the world would never know emerged from the trees, while goannas as long as trucks hid in the depths of the forest waiting for prey to innocently stumble past.

"We're looking at, well, prehistory," said Zac. "I'm guessing hundreds of thousands of years in the past."

Tibrogargan nodded. "When I was young, this was the land. New, green, savage and wild. Time is not something that passes when you possess a form as mine," he explained, his gravelly voice to Zac's ears almost kind. "It is... simply there, I suppose."

Zac nodded, and Tibrogargan looked back to the coastline beneath them. As Zac and Brendan watched, the landscape began changing, as if Tibrogargan had hit a giant 'fast forward' button - the large animals began to disappear, soon vanishing from the landscape entirely. The coastline steadily receded, the Pacific Ocean reclaiming much of the open beaches, and many of the lighter patches of forest gave way to grassy clearings until only the darkest of greens remained. And then, glancing to the south, Brendan saw a trail of smoke rising into the air from a fire in the undergrowth.

"Your people," he said.

The mountain giant nodded. "Small tribes, always moving, never taking more than they needed, respecting the land and all the life it held. Even though I slept for a long time, I knew they were there, I could feel them. And then," and both Rangers heard the distinct change in the mountain's voice, "I felt when it all changed."

Down below, a sailing ship streaming banners of European kings and queens was passing the coast, and looking closely, the two Rangers could make out the wide-eyed expressions of those onboard. Time seemed to jump, and now a whole fleet of ships was sailing directly towards the coast. A century passed in a second - the forest retreated even further as the clearings became larger and larger. Beneath them where Caloundra would eventually be, a small hut appeared beside the beach, followed by another and another. Further north, buildings began to appear and multiply, marking the beginning of the Sunshine Coast's northern cities - the structures grew wider, larger, the number doubling every second, the cities steadily spreading faster than either Zac or Brendan could keep up with.

As they watched, roads began to appear, great black scars across the land, while telegraph poles and powerlines began to cross the countryside like a great spider-web. Development moved along the roads and railway lines, entire suburbs and townships rising in the blink of an eye, civilisation spreading like nothing so much as a virus running amok. Finally, the forest retreated and vanished entirely, there were houses and factories as far as the eye could see, and the coastline returned to something more familiar. Caloundra lay before them, the screams of the panicked reaching those on top of the mountain - time had caught back up.

Tibrogargan stepped back from the cliff-edge and walked away, and Zac and Brendan turned to each other, totally lost for words.

"Tell me," the mountain began, "why should I spare them? Why should I do as you ask? You've seen what they have done, what it was when they were not yet here, the power of my people before their intrusion. Is this not the way of _all_ things?"

Zac stepped forward. "I know that right now there's not much we could do to change your mind," he began, "but that's not the problem. The person who woke you up, the girl you talked to, she's using you. She's a power-hungry witch who doesn't care for you or your people. You can't trust what she said."

Brendan joined Zac before Tibrogargan. "Yeah dude, like we said, we're not the badguys here. She is."

Tibrogargan nodded, and looked away. "I do not doubt that you two speak the truth," he said, then turned back to them. "But was she wrong? Tell me that, to convince me, this witch lied to me. Tell me the land is not overburdened nor poisoned. Tell me my people are still free. Tell me that my people are happy, and I will stand down every force at my call."

Zac glanced to Brendan and shrugged helplessly. There was nothing that could beat that trump card. Not a single damn thing.

Brendan shook his head, and approached Tibrogargan. "No, she told you the truth," he said. "But think about it - _this_ is how you're going to avenge your people, by taking thousands of innocent lives? The people down there had nothing to do with what happened two hundred years ago. Could you honestly live with this? Okay, so maybe a lot of bad things happened in the past, but this isn't going to make any of it right. And we will stop you if we have to."

Tibrogargan lowered his gaze, deep in thought for a few seconds, before turning to Zac. "And you, what do you believe?"

Zac held the mountain's gaze. "You know what? People are stupid," he said. "They do stupid things and make really bad decisions, and have every day for centuries. But you're a mountain. You have forever to figure things out, and we don't. People do what they think is right, and occasionally screw up royally. It's just how it happens. Look, I'm not excusing what happened to our people, but you can't take it out on those people down there. They've got their whole lives to make stupid decisions - don't take that all away from them."

Brendan nodded. "Exactly," he said, looking deep into the mountain's eyes and suddenly noticing how human they were. "Ignore everything the witch told you - heck, ignore everything _we've_ just said. Decide for yourself, figure this out for yourself," and he swept his arm out over the city, "is this really who you want to be?"

The words hung in the crisp morning air and Tibrogargan looked away. Zac glanced over to Brendan, and couldn't help but smile beneath his visor. _The newbie was good, no mistake_.

Finally, after a few long minutes, Tibrogargan spoke.

"I have witnessed enough bloodshed," the mountain said, with a slow nod. "I see the truth in both of you, bright and clear as the sun. You are both right, this is not the way, and I believe you." With that, the mountain turned to them and they both stepped back - Tibrogargan's eyes were suddenly glowing a volcanic red, shining with the fury of the Earth, and when he spoke next, they could hear the molten lava roaring through his veins. "And if I have been manipulated as you suggest, then I will be _very, very angry_."


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

Back at the mountainless-field, Jason watched the Junior Team race away after the giant form of Mount Tibrogargan, and turned back to the rest of the team.

"The snake and the ape?" asked Kimberly.

Jason nodded. "All ours," he said, and the Rangers raised their arms to the sky. "We need dinozord power now!"

Lightning flashed, the ground shook, and a mighty roar that echoed across the field announced the arrival of the dinozords. The red Tyrannozord came into view first, ancient and powerful, its blue eyes flashing and the earth shaking with every enormous step. Behind it, the black Mastodon powered towards the battlefield with a great trumpeting call, joined by the blue Triceratops and yellow Sabre-Toothed Tiger zords on either side and the pink Pterodactyl soaring through the air high above.

"Let's go!" cried Jason, and the four Senior Rangers immediately teleported into their approaching zords, materialising in the cockpits a second later. "Log on guys," said the Red Ranger, "and switch to Megazord mode!"

Bypassing their normal tank-mode configuration, the Sabre-Toothed Tiger and Triceratops pulled in front and drew side-by-side, the Tyrannozord's legs folding back and all three zords combining. While the three zords were still powering towards the Doolagahl and Liru, the remote-controlled Mastodon split in half to form the Megazord's arms, and both the Mastodon and Pterodactyl were drawn around the body of the Tyrannozord with a crackle of power. Billy's and Trini's zords rolled to a stop and launched the Megazord vertical, and with yellow eyes flashing as its internal systems automatically switched online, the Megazord raised its arms and stepped towards the two giant monsters, ready for battle.

Meanwhile, down below, Tommy unsheathed the Dragon Dagger, lifted it to his lips and played the tune he knew would summon the Dragonzord. Sure enough, within seconds, the enormous zord of the Green Ranger had teleported from its underwater lair and spectacularly arrived in a blaze of sparks and smoke. Its eyes glowing red, the Dragonzord let out a mighty roar and crossed the battlefield to join the Megazord facing down the Liru and Doolagahl.

"So," began Trini, in the cockpit of the Megazord, "we figured out how to beat you guys once. How do _you_ think this is going to end?"

Across the field, the Doolagahl sneered and stepped towards the two zords. "You received a piece of luck this morning," it growled, in deep bellowing tones.

Beside it, the Liru nodded. "And that will not be happening again," the creature hissed, and with that, the two beasts charged, the entire plain shaking as they thundered towards the zords.

"Here they come!" said Kim.

Jason nodded. "Let's power up!"

Reaching the Megazord, the Doolagahl immediately swung its enormous fist for the zord's chestplate - the Megazord blocked the blow, struck away the beast's hand and sent a punch towards the Doolagahl's head. The monster ducked under the blow, spinning to the side to avoid a low kick and retaliating, smashing his left forearm into the zord and sending the Megazord stumbling backwards in a cloud of fire and sparks. The Doolagahl thundered back across the field to continue the attack but the Megazord recovered quickly, blocking a swipe from the left and catching the beast's other hand as he swung for the zord's chest. The Doolagahl kicked low - the Megazord struck away his foot and landed a powerful right hook to the beast's chin, even as the Doolagahl landed a blow to the zord's stomach armour, both opponents stumbling away from each in a cloud of smoke.

Across the field towards where the mountain had been, the Liru had launched itself towards the Dragonzord, slashing for the zord with its claws. The Dragonzord ducked back out of danger but the beast quickly followed the zord, raking its claws across the Dragonzord's chest in a shower of sparks before another blow to the side of the zord's head sent the Dragonzord crashing back. Regaining its footing, the Dragonzord spun around, slashing its tail drill through the air towards the beast, but the snake easily ducked the blow and stepped forward to strike again - only to come under fire as the zord's finger missiles began firing. The entire area erupted in sparks and smoke, and the beast stumbled back coughing.

The Doolagahl joined the Liru as the snake beast recovered from the assault, and raising their fists, the two monsters turned back to face the Megazord and Dragonzord.

"Well," said Kimberly, glancing around to the other Rangers. "This could be going better."

Down below, watching the battle from the side of the field, Rita Repulsa grinned a victorious smile and raised her voice in triumph. "Face it Rangers," she said, "you cannot win this today, although I'm going to extremely enjoy watching you try."

Without warning - like somebody hitting a light switch - a great shadow fell over the battleground, and everybody automatically looked to the east - framed against the morning sky, impossible to miss, the giant rocky form of Mount Tibrogargan was returning, moving back through the sky towards where it had previously rested for centuries, the face on the mountain's side gazing down over the battlefield. Rita's reaction was almost instantaneous, raising her wand and muttering a chant beneath her breath - behind her, Goldar and Scorpina vanished into the air, while Rita herself suddenly took on the form of a young Aboriginal girl.

Tibrogargan's gaze shifted from the two zords to the Doolagahl and the Liru, and finally down to the tiny figure of Rita. "_I have been used_," he said, his voice shaking with fury. "Nothing but a pawn, to be discarded at will."

Rita stepped forward, aware that things were beginning to go awry. "Tibrogargan, you are..."

"You would have me slaughter thousands?" the mountain cried. "For nothing but your own whimsy?" By now, the mountain was hovering above the dark patch of Earth that had marked its previous resting place, and very slowly, Mount Tibrogargan lowered itself back to the ground, soon settling in place with a dying rumble and a cloud of dust.

Rita shook her head. "But our people..."

"**_OUR!?!_**" roared the mountain, the word heard hundreds of kilometres away. "Do not taint the memory of my great people with your lies and malice a second longer! For the first time, I feel fully alive - you wanted my revenge, witch, and you shall certainly have it." Tibrogargan's eyes flashed, and once again his face disappeared back into the cliff-face.

The Rangers in the Megazord turned to each other in awe, when suddenly Zac materialised beside Jason in a flash of light.

"Zac!" cheered Kim. "You did it, you saved the city!"

"Yeah," smiled Trini. "You got through to him, way to go."

Zac shook his head. "Thanks, but I can't take all the credit," he said. "Brendan and I just helped the big guy figure out a few things, is all."

Behind them, our Megazord was just making its way back across the field to the battleground. Crossing the railway line, we steered the zord over to join the Megazord and Dragonzord.

"Guys," I called into the radio, "check it out! Tibrogargan's not finished yet!"

With the sound of granite ripping apart, great cracks were appearing in the cliff-face, splintering up the side of the mountain and forming a familiar-looking shape. Before long, an entire section of the rock wall had broken free, and Tibrogargan himself stepped out of the cliff. At least fifteen storeys tall, the mountain giant's body was living granite, streaked with black and silver minerals and with a long mossy beard. Stepping away from the mountain, Tibrogargan turned his full attention to Rita Repulsa. His eyes blazed with the fire of a volcano - every step was an earthquake, every heartbeat a crack of thunder, every breath a hurricane.

"I'm not the only one seeing this, right?" I said.

Down below, Tommy glanced from the still-shaking mountain to the Earth splitting apart beneath Tibrogargan's steps. "I don't know how much more the countryside can take of this," he said. "Billy, what's going on?"

The Blue Ranger looked back to the mountain. "Well, operating on the thesis that Tibrogargan _is_ a mountain spirit," he began, "then he must be channeling the fundamental forces of the planet itself."

Jason nodded. "Yeah. And right now, the planet's pretty ticked off."

Across from us, Tibrogargan focussed his full attention on Rita. "Hide behind your magics all you wish," the mountain rumbled, and his eyes flashed - whatever spell Rita had used was gone in a heartbeat, vanishing like smoke and leaving her, Goldar and Scorpina in plain sight. "Your lies mean nothing."

Rita immediately looked up to the Doolagahl and Liru. "Stop him!" she cried, and the two beasts nodded and launched themselves at Tibrogargan, falling on him from either side - the mountain raised his arms and struck them both away with a single gesture, and continued towards the witch. Holding her wand high, Rita stepped back and raised the strongest forcefield she could muster, the air thickening over half the plain and crackling with power. Without even slowing down, Tibrogargan slammed a giant stone fist against the field, and it shattered instantly with a single blow.

Frantic, Rita spun to Goldar and Scorpina - her wand flashed, and suddenly the giant forms of Goldar and Scorpina rose from the cloud of smoke, a hundred and fifty feet tall and both raising their enormous swords. The two turned and immediately slashed out at Tibrogargan, the blades falling onto his shoulders in a shower of sparks. For his part, the mountain giant barely blinked, raising his arms and knocking them both away. They crashed to the ground in a cloud of smoke, and Tibrogargan kept moving, his shadow falling over Rita Repulsa - like an avalanche, a rocky fist roared down towards her. Rocky oblivion filled the sky, and Rita screamed and vanished, teleporting to safety a second before Tibrogargan's fist slammed into the ground with continent-cracking force.

Tibrogargan stepped back and turned to the battlefield, his eyes flashing angrily as Goldar and Scorpina rolled to their feet and joined the Doolagahl and Liru, all four of them backing away quickly as the mountain giant stepped towards them.

"The witch was right about one thing," he rumbled. "The land is suffering under evil's hand, but with every force at my call I will not rest until that evil is broken!"

"Tibrogargan," came a voice, and the mountain giant turned to see the two Megazords and the Dragonzord approaching. "We're grateful for your help," said Jason, the external radio broadcasting his words across the battlefield, "but you have to stop now. The forces you're connected to, that tie the land together, are unraveling. As long as you're awake, this is only going to get worse."

His stony brow raising in confusion, Tibrogargan turned back to the mountain, suddenly aware of the world around him. The entire countryside was shaking now, as far as the eye could see, the tremors steadily gaining in momentum. Cracks in the earth were violently splintering outwards from the base of the mountain, and an entire forest fell even as he stood watching.

Tibrogargan shook his head, his gaze lowering and the fire in his eyes dying. "My greatest crime," he said softly, "was to think the world was mine. None more shall be harmed from my arrogance. I am shamed."

"It's okay," said Jason. "Let us take it from here, it's what we do."

The mountain giant nodded, turning and leaving the battlefield. Reaching the cliff-face, Tibrogargan stepped back into the mountain, his body filling the chasm in the rocky wall and the mountainside returning to normal. Around us, the earthquakes almost instantly began to slow and stop, and the cracks across the ground began sealing.

I let out a sigh of relief. "One problem down."

Teresa glanced to the four giant monsters facing us. "One to go."

"Well," boomed Goldar, "it seems you just lost a major advantage."

Beside him, the Doolagahl nodded. "Four against three. Not good odds."

In the Megazord, Jason nodded. "Yeah," he replied. "You don't stand a chance. Guys," and he looked from our Megazord on the left to the Dragonzord on the right. "Let's finish this."

"Right!"

With that, the three zords turned and began powering across the field. Dragonzord thundered straight towards Scorpina and Goldar, the two immediately striking out at the approaching zord. Dragonzord ducked under Scorpina's blade and struck away Goldar's sword, blocking another slash from Goldar and smashing him back with a blow to the chest. Turning, the Dragonzord ducked back out of danger as Scorpina raked her claws for the zord's chestplate, and spinning around on the spot, struck Scorpina away with a blow from the zord's tail drill.

Across the field, the Senior's Megazord was once again trading blows with the Doolagahl, while our Megazord had powered towards the Liru, the zord reaching the beast and immediately swinging out with a roundhouse punch. The Liru easily dodged around the blow, ducking under a second blow and blocking a third, striking away the Megazord's arm and landing a blow to the Megazord's stomach. The zord stumbled back in a shower of sparks and smoke, and before we could recover, the Liru had followed us forward, slashing his claws across the zord's chestplate. Spinning around, the beast struck out with a low kick - the Megazord batted his foot away, but was sent stumbling backwards as the Liru raked its claws across the side of the zord's head.

A shower of sparks rained down on us in the cockpit as we steered the zord to safety.

"We can't find him like this," said Scott. "He's just too fast."

I nodded. "Any ideas?"

The radio suddenly crackled to life. "Well," came a voice, "you could let _me_ have a crack at him."

I turned to Aaron and Scott on either side in surprise. "Brendan?"

"You got it," Brendan replied. "Hang back guys, this one's all mine."

By now we could feel it, something enormous approaching the battleground at great speed. A primeval roar rang out, echoing off the mountain in the distance, and both the Megazord and Liru turned to look - racing towards us, powering through the countryside and throwing up clouds of dust with every step was a giant silver Dilophosaurus. Almost as tall as our Megazord, the Dilophozord appeared thin and agile, with short clawed forearms and sturdy three-toed feet. The zord's head was adorned with two thin rows of metal above two glowing green eyes, as well as a mouth filled with conical razor-sharp teeth.

Sensing danger, the Liru turned from the Megazord towards the approaching Dilophozord - only to dive to safety as the Dilophozord leaped into the air towards him. But even as the Liru landed and rolled to its feet, the Dilophozord charged forward and slashed at the beast with its claws. The Liru around the move, swiping at the zord's head, but the zord blocked his scaly arm and struck it away, before raking its claws across the beast's chest and sending him crashing back in a shower of sparks. The Liru found his footing and darted around to attack from the side, but the Dilophozord quickly followed after the Liru, fending off blows and returning them even as the Liru continued to search for an opening. Blocking a low swipe, the Liru lashed out at the zord's chest, but the Dilophozord quickly backed out of danger, and while the Liru was off-balance, the zord slammed the beast off his feet with a high kick.

"So," said Brendan with a grin, as the Liru rolled to a stop in a cloud of dust, "what do you guys think?"

"It's fantastic," I smiled.

"Yeah, it's awesome," agreed Aaron. "Good job man."

Inside the Dilophozord's control room, Brendan nodded. "Thanks. But that ain't all the big guy's got," he said. "Senior Team!"

Across the field, the Megazord blocked a blow from the Doolagahl and turned to the Dilophozord. "Whoa, Brendan," said Zac. "Cool zord man."

Brendan grinned. "He slices, dices, and deep-fries." With that, a huge jet of flame roared forth from the Dilophozord's mouth, scorching the air and spiralling across the battlefield towards the Doolagahl. Eyes wide, the monster let out a wild cry and dived to safety. Fighting to be as far away from the flame as possible, the Doolagahl retreated back to where the Liru was recovering, the pair soon joined by Scorpina and Goldar.

"Down..." I began.

"And out," continued Aaron, and the five of us lifted our arms to the sky. "Power Sword!"

High above us, clouds began to swirl in a suddenly-dark sky, and as lightning flashed and thunder rumbled, the gleaming Power Sword fell from the heavens, descending towards Earth and embedding in the ground a step away from the Megazord. Withdrawing the sword, the Megazord raised the weapon high and advanced towards the cowering Liru.

"This one's for Tibrogargan," I said. "Hi-YAH!"

The Megazord's golden eyes flashed as lightning struck down from the sky and surged along the blade. Hesitating a second longer, the Megazord slashed the weapon down through the air in a wide diagonal stroke - sheer raw power exploded from the sword's arc, slicing through the air and smashing into the Liru monster with devastating force. The beast was instantly consumed by a massive fireball that roared skyward and rained debris down across the field.

The Megazord lowered its sword and turned to where Scorpina, Goldar and the Doolagahl stood trembling in fear.

Goldar glanced to Scorpina then back to the Megazord. "There _will_ be a next time Power Rangers," he growled, and the two generals teleported from the scene in two flashes of flame.

Everybody glanced back to the Doolagahl, who was noticeably edging away from us.

"Guys," called Tommy, "what do you say we take this freak out once and for all?"

Zac nodded. "Couldn't have said it any better."

Our Megazord raised its sword. "Repeat performance?" I asked.

In the other Megazord, Jason shook his head. "That's cool. There's something you guys need to see," and he turned to the others. "Ready?" They nodded, and the five Senior Rangers raised their arms to the sky. "We call upon the power of Titanus, now!"

Without warning, a massive zord suddenly burst right through a row of low hills on the horizon, powering towards the battlefield and sending dust and debris flying high into the air. Shaped like a giant brachiosaurus, the zord had a wide body, a long silver neck and a small head with two glowing red eyes. The silver, black and white zord was so enormous, so indescribably _powerful_, that just looking at it was like witnessing one of the world's great wonders. As it rolled along the ground towards us on huge front wheels, I noticed that its tail had split in two, each half repositioning itself forward over the zord's shoulders.

"Ultrazord, power up!"

As we watched, the Dragonzord's body split into two, each half swinging out horizontally. Across the field, the Megazord's crown and shoulders quickly repositioned themselves, and the two halves of the Dragonzord lowered themselves down over the Megazord. Finally, the combined mass of zords lifted into the air and dropped down into the back of Titanus to form the towering DinoUltrazord.

"Good night," said Jason. "Lock on, and fire!"

The targetting systems within the Ultrazord locked onto the retreating figure of the Doolagahl, and seconds later the Ultrazord roared to life, an enormous barrage of guided missiles, lasers and fireballs exploding from the zord, crossing the battlefield and slamming into the monster with earth-shattering force. The Doolagahl was instantly destroyed in a cataclysmic explosion that lit up the countryside and sent an enormous fireball billowing skyward.

"Whoa," I said, the radio relaying my words into the Ultrazord, as Titanus roared victoriously. "Just... whoa."

"Yep," nodded Jason. "Pretty much."

In the Dilophozord, Brendan sat back in his chair, shaking his head. "Man," he said softly, "I can't believe this is all happening."

"Well, good work," said Teresa. "You did an awesome job. Should we head back to the Command Centre?"

"No," replied Zac, turning and looking over to the mountain. "Not yet. We've still got something we need to take care of..."

* * *

The light behind Tibrogargan's eyes was fading as the twelve of us approached the mountain, the dying flames of a spent fire. The mountain itself was more or less back to normal, as solid and unmovable now as it had been for thousands of years.

The mountain shifted his gaze from the zords down to the team of Rangers before him. "They have been defeated?" he asked, the rumble in his voice now like distant thunder.

Jason stepped forward. "There isn't much left of either of them," he replied.

Tibrogargan sighed, and looked away to the east. "For whatever it is worth," he began, "I am sorry for the things I have done."

"It's okay," said Teresa. "It's not your fault, it's what the badguys do."

He turned back to us. "There was no damage?"

"The city's still in one piece," I nodded. "Although you have everyone a heck of a scare."

"What about the rest of it?" asked Tommy.

"The land, air and waters will all return to normal once I am again dreaming," the mountain replied. Pausing, he ran his eyes over us as if he was seeing us for the first time. "There were... heroes, yes, teams of heroes in my time," Tibrogargan continued, "and I can see the souls of champions shining within you. Silver and Black, please step forward."

Brendan and Zac glanced to each other nervously but stepped forward, and the mountain smiled. "Silver, from my watch you are not long with this team, and I believe you will be a fine champion. Black," and the mountain turned his attention to Zac. "Thank you, young hero, for your honesty and your strength," he said, and looked back to the rest of the group. "I must return to sleep now, but my slumber will be restful. For even though I dream, I know that someone will be watching over this land and taking care of its peoples. And for that, I will be forever thankful."

And as we stood watching, the light faded away from Tibrogargan's eyes completely, and the mountain was once again dreaming.

* * *

In two bright flashes of light, Jason and Tommy materialised back in the Command Centre, demorphing a second later.

Kim stepped forward. "How's the city?"

"Caloundra's ability to deal with this kind of thing is actually pretty scary," said Jason.

Tommy nodded. "The city's a mess, and the emergency services will all be putting in for overtime, but apart from that everybody's okay," he said. "The damage was pretty minimal, considering, and nobody got too badly hurt."

"Well that's a relief," said Teresa.

"We spoke to the mayor and the press as well," continued Jason. "We told them that this morning was a one-off, that Tibrogargan will be staying right where he is for a very long time, and that nobody has to worry about the mountain going for a wander ever again."

"Heck of a way to start the morning, though," I said, then turned to Brendan and smiled. "To say nothing of our newest recruit."

Brendan grinned, bouncing across the room to Zac. "I can't believe my first morning, I mean, we talked a mountain out of flattening the city. How just unbelievable is _that_?"

"Couldn't have done it without you," Zac smiled. "You were totally awesome up there. No way I could've gotten through to Tibrogargan alone."

"And your Dilophozord," added Kim. "Seriously cool."

Scott nodded. "Yeah, and how you wiped out that army of Kwinkan, that was incredible."

Brendan grinned and shook his head. "Thanks, it means a lot, but this still isn't _real_, you know?" he asked, glancing around to each of us like this was a dream he was afraid might vanish at any second. "My head is still spinning at like a million miles an hour. I mean, I'm a Power Ranger."

I stepped over to him, and rested my hand on his shoulder. "Well, when your head catches up with the rest of you, congratulations."

"They are right Brendan," boomed Zordon, and we all looked up to him. "Your quick-thinking, sharp wit and impressive skills all shone this morning, and you deserve all our praise." Zordon smiled, and looked to the rest of the group. "As do you all. You prevented a disaster today Rangers, by figuring out the link to Tibrogargan, managing to reach him and then by defeating the two monsters, and I'm proud of you all."

Teresa glanced across to Brendan. "Zordon," she began, "Brendan's arrival wouldn't be the reason why we couldn't reach the Command Centre this morning?"

"Yes, that is correct," the sage replied. "To activate the twelfth Power Coin required all our energy and attention, so to be safe Alpha and I shut down most of our systems this morning. But once we'd finished, we immediately saw the situation developing at the mountain, and sent Brendan into battle just as Tibrogargan summoned the Kwinkan."

"So," began Tommy, "just how powerful is our new Ranger?"

"Unlike your eleven coins," Zordon explained, "the Dilophosaurus Power Coin draws its power from the oldest and purest of all natural forces - light. After the first appearance of the Kwinkan, Alpha and I realised we had no choice but to choose a Silver Ranger."

"A Ranger of light," nodded Billy. "To defeat an army of shadows."

Zordon nodded. "Exactly. Now, Brendan," and he turned to the newest Ranger, "as the Silver Ranger, your powers enable you to perform great feats, and you will eventually learn how to use that power effectively." Brendan nodded, and Zordon continued. "Now I realise I've left things a bit late, but there is something I must tell you. Although you were victorious today, I cannot promise you that every victory will be won so easily, or with so few casualties. The line of fire will always be a dangerous place to be, and with that in mind, do you still wish to be a Power Ranger?"

Silence fell in the Command Centre, and Brendan lowered his gaze, deep in thought. Finally, after a few minutes, he looked back up to Zordon and grinned, the twinkle back in his eye.

"Well, what with the award rate, dental plan and country club," he grinned, "I just can't think of how the problems outweigh the benefits. That is, I mean," and he turned to the rest of us, "if you guys still want me."

I opened my mouth to reply, but Teresa turned to me, rested a hand on my shoulder, and stepped forward. "We meant everything we said today," she said, with a warm smile. "You were incredible out there, and we could _not_ have managed without you." She paused, and grinned. "So of course we want you to stick around."

Stepping forward and joining Teresa, I looked into Brendan's eyes and nodded. "You're part of the team now," I smiled. "So welcome to the club Brendan Watts. I think you're gonna love it."


	9. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

With sounds of life far below occasionally drifting up to him, Zac dropped his backpack, cleared a space on the ground and sat down on the comfiest rock he could see. It was quiet up here, save for the wind through the trees or the birds wheeling above, and right now quiet was what he needed. Settling into place, Zac looked out over the countryside. The peak of Mount Tibrogargan overlooked the entire Sunshine Coast, and from his vantage point he could see right across Caloundra to the water, and the sailboats drifting on the afternoon breeze. He hadn't had time to appreciate the view this morning, what with saving the world and all, but now spent a few minutes running his gaze down over the landscape, taking in everything he could see.

Reaching for his backpack, Zac pulled free his history textbook, pencil case and workbook. Checking his communicator to make sure he still had a way home, the Black Ranger opened his books and, while keeping a watchful eye out over the city, began reading. Halfway through a chapter, the faintest of noises started to reach his ears, and Zac looked up and around in surprise. But once he'd identified the familiar noise, Zac smiled to himself and went back to his book, accompanied now by the sound of peaceful, rhythmic snoring carried up to him on the wind.

The End.


End file.
